"New Normal" Radiology.

COVID-19, the most recent and globally impactful zoonotic viral pandemic in the last 20 years, has now entered its third year. As the global dental profession returns to providing as full a range of services as possible, in addition to embedding the new infection-control processes that were developed for this pandemic, it should also take full advantage of digital conventional radiology (intraoral, extraoral, and panoramic radiography) and cone-beam computed tomography. Regardless of vaccinations, new or yet-to-manifest variants, and testing, some dentists may be working in communities where the asymptomatic but potentially infectious patient poses a real risk. This needs to be met with not only the whole COVID-19 panoply the dentist is already too familiar with but also the need to minimise aerosol generation production by dental radiography. A flowchart and a table that compares the attributes of the above modalities are included.

Delaying Intraoral Radiographs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Conundrum.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has made dentists very assiduous about cross-infection during dental treatment, thereby delaying dental radiographs for treatment. However, patients needing dental emergency treatment in the ongoing pandemic require relevant intra/extraoral dental radiography for adequate diagnosis and treatment planning. METHODS: This article is aimed at adding to the hot debate: Is delay for intraoral radiographs justified or a possible proxy? As a narrative review, it provides an insight into the reasons for delaying intra-oral dental radiographs during in the pandemic and options of the nontraditional radiographic techniques available until the pandemic subsides. Discussion and Conclusion. Cross-contamination concerns through respiratory droplets grow while using intraoral film holders that stimulate gag reflex, coughing, saliva secretion, and if proper disinfection protocols are not applied. Since the patients' acquiring emergency dental treatment cannot be neglected, the return-to-work guidelines by the health regulatory bodies urge to prioritize extraoral radiographic imaging techniques to curb the infection, offering the best diagnostic efficacy. The dental professionals can consider cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans and sectional dental panoramic radiographs (SDPRs), followed by a risk assessment for COVID-19, a safer modality in reducing cross-contamination and assuring an innocuous environment for both patient and coworkers.

COVID-19 and beyond: implications for dental radiography.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all routine dental care in the UK ceased on 25 March 2020. Liverpool University Dental Hospital (LUDH) responded by commencing an emergency dental service on the same date. Clinicians were redeployed within the Hospital to meet the needs of the service, including staffing of the radiology department. LUDH followed Royal College recommendations by taking extraoral radiographs in preference to intraoral radiographs due to the risk of inducing an aerosol. Issues were identified with clinical diagnosis from sectional panoramic radiographs, which led to the introduction of extraoral bitewings being taken as an alternative. A quality assurance audit found that these images provided a substantially lower radiation dose and produced excellent quality images with improved diagnostic accuracy. This article aims to summarise how our radiography practices changed in response to the coronavirus and how the lessons that we have learnt provide an opportunity to modify and improve future practice, beyond the pandemic.