Editorial

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and Dental Treatment

Citation: Shokri A. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and Dental Treatment Avicenna J Dent Res. 2020;12(1):1. doi: 10.34172/ajdr.2020.01.

The viral pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) began at the end of 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China, and in a short time, it spread to many countries of the world. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is considered as a major public health challenge (1).

It seems that among different medical professions, dentistry will face a bigger challenge because this profession not only exposes the doctor to very close contact with the patient’s airways but also the use of dental methods causes the production of aerosols which can potentially contaminate dental office surfaces.Although a significant number of articles have been published on the Covid-19 epidemic. However, few reports are found in dental journals (2). Meng et al introduced essential knowledge about COVID-19 in dental settingsbased on their experiences, providing recommendations and management protocols for dental physicians and students in affected zones (3). Dental patients and professionals can be exposed to pathogenic microorganisms. Dental care settings invariably carry the risk of COVID-19 infection due to the specificity of its procedures, which involves face-to-face communication with patients, frequent exposure to saliva and blood, and working with sharp instruments.

However, several valuable studies have been published regarding the protection of dental personnel from the exposuretoCovid-19. These studies point to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and surface disinfectants to protect dental personnel (2).

The study by Peng et al (2) served as a useful guide for dental practitioners worldwide, including indication for use of mouthwash with 1% hydrogen peroxide and 0.2% povidone-iodine. It seems that hydrogen peroxide and povidone-iodine may reduce the amount of viral particles in the oral cavity, indicating that this method also reduces the risk of infection among physicians. It is important that a complete intraoral examination should be done inCOVID-19 patients in order to find any oral manifestation that might be related. For instance, the appearance of temporal oral pigmented lesions is expected as chloroquine has been used as part of the treatment in patients with COVID-19. The dentist should also carefully examine the salivary glands and salivary flow for early detection of changes in the gland parenchyma that may be affected by the virus (4).

Given that a significant number of dentists around the world are working during this pandemic, we need to think and act faster while facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to help them better in their dental treatment.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures

None.

Ethical Statement

Not applicable.

References

1. Li JY, You Z, Wang Q, Zhou ZJ, Qiu Y, Luo R. The epidemic of 2019-novel-coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia and insights for emerging infectious diseases in the future. Microbes Infect 2020; 22(2):80-5. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2020.02.002 [Crossref] [ Google Scholar]
2. Peng X, Xu X, Li Y, Cheng L, Zhou X, Ren B. Transmission routes of 2019-nCoV and controls in dental practice. Int J Oral Sci 2020; 12(1):9. doi: 10.1038/s41368-020-0075-9 [Crossref] [ Google Scholar]
3. Meng L, Hua F, Bian Z. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): emerging and future challenges for dental and oral medicine. J Dent Res 2020; 99(5):481-7. doi: 10.1177/0022034520914246 [Crossref] [ Google Scholar]
4. Díaz Rodríguez M, Jimenez Romera A, Villarroel M. Oral manifestations associated to Covid-19. Oral Dis. 2020. 10.1111/odi.13555.