ABSTRACT
Objectives: The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) encouraged immediate actions by governments and healthcare associations across the world to flatten the curve and prevent health systems from being overburdened. As dentistry comprises aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), which could increase the risk of infection, various guidelines were issued for dental services which focused on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures for COVID-19. This systematic review focuses on dental IPC guidelines, with the aim of comparing these guidelines against a gold standard. Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 checklist was employed. Predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria were constructed. Information sources comprised Google Scholar, PubMed, and a manual search from December 2019 to December 2021. The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument was used. Consensus scoring was applied for all guidelines. Results: A total 61 guidelines were included in the review. The UK national guideline was used as a gold standard as it ranked the highest AGREE score (75 out of 84) and thus was established for comparison with each of the included guidelines. Overall, 40% of the included guidelines had a high consensus score in relation to the UK national guideline. Conclusion: This systematic review highlighted the variability in content and quality of advice given by different organizations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in their efforts to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in dentistry. Establishing a single worldwide fast-acting dental organization would ensure that high-quality standardized guidance is available, to enhance health equality and worldwide dental clinical standards.
ABSTRACT
Background: Sex hormones strongly influence the health and ailment of the oral cavity. For instance, a woman's oral health is influenced by her menstrual cycle, menopause, pregnancy, and usage of oral contraceptives. The use of various therapeutic medication results in intraoral alterations. Oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are among the drugs that produce intraoral alterations. The study's objective was to evaluate attitudes and oral health conditions of Saudi women's utilizing OCPs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among Saudi women in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The self-administered questionnaire was made and sent to women to evaluate the attitude and oral health condition of women utilizing OCPs. The women using OCPs were asked to self-administer 17 questions to evaluate attitudes and oral health conditions. The questionnaire had multiple-choice questions and was consisted of four sections. Results: The number of participants who used contraceptives was 125 (35.9%) women; of them, only 94 (75.2%) used oral contraceptives. The duration of using oral contraceptives mainly was 1-5 years (39.4%), then > 5 years (34.0%), and <1 year (26.6%). Of the 94 women, 34 (36.2%) had gingival diseases, 23 (24.5%) treated their gums; and 13 (13.8%) cleaned their gums at a dental clinic regularly. Times of teeth brushing per day were one time in 32 women (34%), twice in 47 women (50.0%), and three times in 15 (16.0%). Of the 94 women, 4 (4.3%) were smoking, 24 (25.5%) took medication other than OCPs, and 16 (17.02%) had chronic diseases. Common oral complications noticed by participants were gum bleeding after brushing (51.6%), dental caries (25.5%), and oral ulcers (10.6%). Conclusion: Females on OCPs had a high rate of gingival bleeding, dental caries, and oral ulcers. OCPs users had poor periodontal and gingival health. Establishing an oral hygiene program was necessary to treat gingival and periodontal inflammation that exacerbated by OCPs.
