Are dental schools adequately preparing dental students to face outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID‐19?

Ghai, Suhani

The recent 2019‐novel coronavirus (2019‐nCoV, also known as SARS‐CoV‐2) has caused >2,622,571 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in >185 countries, and >182,359 deaths globally. More than 9000 healthcare workers have also been infected by 2019‐nCoV. Prior to the present pandemic of COVID‐19, there have been multiple large‐scale epidemics and pandemics of other viral respiratory infections, such as seasonal flu, Spanish flu (H1N1), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and others. Dental professionals are at an increased risk for contracting these viruses from dental patients, as dental practice involves face‐to‐face communication with the patients and frequent exposure to saliva, blood, and other body fluids. Dental education can play an important role in the training of dentists, helping them to adopt adequate knowledge and attitudes related to infection control measures. The current dental curriculum does not cover infection control adequately, especially from airborne pathogens. Infection control education needs to be included in the dental curriculum itself, and students should be trained adequately to protect them and prevent the infection from disseminating even before they see their first patient.