| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 9
| Issue : 2 | Page : 87-91 |
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Challenges and opportunities for oral health care professionals in COVID-19 pandemic
Amit Tirth, Naved Alam, TL Ravishankar, Vaibhav Tandon
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Kothiwal Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Naved Alam
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Kothiwal Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/sjoralsci.sjoralsci_15_22
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Introduction: The World Health Organization announced a pandemic crisis when the virus was isolated in all of its worldwide regions. Being highly transmissible, this novel coronavirus disease-2019, also known as COVID-19, has spread fast all over the world. The outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Human-to-human transmission happens mainly through the respiratory tract of droplets and close contact transmission. Dental practitioners are at higher risk of transmission as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has the potential to spread through droplets and aerosols from infected individuals in dental clinics and hospitals.
Aim: The aim of the study is to highlight the potential sources of COVID-19 infection in oral health-care services.
Materials and Methods: An electronic search was made of the PubMed (MEDLINE), ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases. Articles were identified by the searches which were checked based on title first, then by abstract or keywords with “COVID-19,” “SARS-CoV-2,” “Dentist,” and “health-care workers,” for articles involving studies and review articles published in English language only and relevant to the objectives of our review article.
Results and Discussion: The majority of the emergency cases required endodontic treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Atraumatic restorative treatment and interim therapeutic restoration are alternative approaches to prevent infectious aerosol during dental procedures in dental, community, or hospital settings.
Conclusion: Oral healthcare professionals are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 infection. Risk of COVID-19 can be reduced by appropriate techniques and practice in dental settings.
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