The COVID-19 outbreak on dental practice in State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Brazil has become the epicenter of coronavirus disease, and the São Paulo State has the worst scenario. This study evaluated the effect of the COVID-19 in dentists of São Paulo State, Brazil. A self-administered web-based survey with 33 multiple-choice questions was sent to dentists. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the 302 valid responses. Data were analyzed by Chi-square, McNemar and Wilcoxon tests (α = 0.05). Most of the participants aged until 34 years (61.6%) and were female (74.5%). They reduced work to less than 20 h per week. Monthly remuneration was reduced (86.8%). Personal protective equipment at the office was changed (p < 0.05). A few dentists (7.6%) had COVID-19, and more than 99% were aware of the disease. Most of the participants (90.2%) were insecure about being contaminated. The dentists of São Paulo State had coronavirus knowledge and have adopted strict biosafety protocols, but the pandemic affected their financial and psychological features.

Photobiomodulation (PBMT) and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) in oral manifestations of patients infected by Sars-CoV-2: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: In 2019, a viral and respiratory pathology called COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, and spread to other continents. Its main symptoms include fever, cough, dyspnea, myalgia, anorexia and respiratory distress in the most severe cases, which can lead to death. Furthermore, manifestations in the oral cavity such as ageusia and dysgeusia, as well as lesions in other regions of the oral cavity, can be observed. Main body: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to critically assess the clinical evidence on the use of photobiomodulation (PBMT) and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) for the treatment of oral lesions in patients infected with Sars-Cov-2. The literature extracted from electronic databases such as PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, and Google Scholar was screened for eligibility, and relevant articles were included. The review is limited to manuscripts published in English, Spanish and Portuguese language between December 2019 and October 2021. A total of 5 articles with 11 cases retracting PBMT and aPDT as therapeutic strategies for the regression of oral lesions and painful symptoms. The results show favoring the associated use of PBMT with aPDT (P = 0.004), and the isolated use of PBMT with the result of significant "P = 0.005" and good confidence interval (7.18, 39.20) in ulcerative lesions, herpetic, aphthous, erythematous, petechiae and necrotic areas. Conclusions: PBMT and aPDT could be effective in the treatment of oral lesions of patients infected with Sars-Cov-2 in a short period of time; however, more long-term randomized clinical trials studies are needed to define the therapeutic strategy.

Brazilian dental students and COVID-19: A survey on knowledge and perceptions.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the knowledge and perceptions of Brazilian dental students about COVID-19 and the undergraduate clinical practice during the COVID-19 outbreak by a self-administered Web-based questionnaire. METHODS: A social network campaign on Instagram was raised to approach the target population. The survey covered demographic and academic profile, general knowledge, preventive measures and perception about COVID-19. Descriptive statistics were used to identify frequencies and distributions of variables, which were compared by type of institution and current year of enrolment using the Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests (α = 0.05). RESULTS: A total of 833 valid responses were received over 10 days. Students were able to identify the incubation period, main symptoms and contagious routes of the disease but struggled in recognising the name of the virus responsible for the pandemic. Hand washing before and after a dental appointment with a patient (97.7%) followed by the use of barriers to protect mucosa (97.2%) were the more frequently recognised measures to prevent COVID-19 spread in the dental office. As for the perception of COVID-19, 73.2% of the dental students perceived the disease as severe, whilst only 11.1% of them thought that COVID-19 is severe only for people presenting risk factors. Dental student's knowledge and perception were associated with the type of institution and year of enrolment. CONCLUSION: In summary, the dental students demonstrated an acceptable general knowledge about COVID-19, but dental schools will need to address gaps in knowledge, preventive measures, and perceptions to ensure a safer return to in person activities.