The prevalence of positive patients to COVID-19 rapid nasopharyngeal antigen testing in private dental practices.

BACKGROUND: A quick diagnosis is crucial in effectively limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The study aims to assess the prevalence of positive rapid tests in private dental practices. METHODS: This is an observational study. 532 COVID-19 rapid nasopharyngeal antigen tests were carried out in the Veneto region of Italy. Patients of 4 dental practices in different cities (Caorle, Montebelluna, Treviso and Vicenza) were screened with a rapid test (Rapid Test COVID-19 Ag immunochromatographic assay, Techno Genetics) throughout November and December 2020. All the positive results from rapid tests were further investigated with a molecular test (PCR). All the patients tested showed no symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and had already undergone triage and temperature measurement. In total 532 tests were taken: 202 in Caorle (Venice), 130 in Montebelluna (Treviso), 100 in Treviso, and 100 in Vicenza. Statistical analysis was carried with the computing environment R version 3.2.1 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). In particular, R was used for estimating the P value of the χ2 test. The test was considered significant if the P value was lower or equal to 0.05. RESULTS: The prevalence of the rapid tests that resulted positive was 7.14% (38 out of 532 in total, 22 out of 202 in Caorle, 6 out of 130 in Montebelluna, 4 out of 100 in Treviso and 6 out of 100 in Vicenza). Among these patients, 36 tested positive also with a molecular test (94.74%), in particular, 21 in Caorle, 5 in Montebelluna, 4 in Treviso, and 6 in Vicenza. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of positive patients screened with a rapid test in private dental practices stands at 7.14% and it was confirmed in most of the patients with molecular tests. Therefore, in high-risk environments like dental practices, it is imperative to follow all the precautionary measures, and having every patient tested with a rapid test could be taken into consideration to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection.

COVID-19 Outbreak Perception in Italian Dentists.

The aim of this study is an evaluation of the Italian dentists' knowledge regarding COVID-19 and their perception of the risks associated with COVID-19, their attitude in resuming their activities, and how they judge the institutional intervention on a health and economic basis. METHODS: This research evaluated Italian dentists from 11 to 18 April 2020, using a questionnaire submitted via Google Forms (Alphabet, Mountain View, CA, USA). It consisted of different investigations about sociodemographic aspects, profession-related characteristics, knowledge about COVID-19 infection transmission modalities, symptoms, and attitude in treating potentially infected patients. Statistical analysis was performed using the Pearson chi2 test and Student t-test. The α-level was fixed at p = 0.05. All data were analyzed with STATA 16 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). RESULTS: 1500 dentists (664 men and 836 women) completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents declared having been trained in infection prevention procedures (64.3%) but not specifically to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (48.7%). A total of 57.2% declared that they were not trained sufficiently to restart working after lockdown, with a significantly higher prevalence (Pearson chi2 test, p < 0.001) among women (62.3%) than men (50.9%). CONCLUSION: Italian dentists were informed correctly on the mode of transmission but partially missed COVID-19 symptoms. Dentists considered the virus infection highly dangerous, and they were not confident in being able to work safely. The lack of precise operating guidelines creates uncertainties on infection control measures and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) use. The participants revealed apprehension for their health and the current and future economic situation of their practices.