Novel COVID-19 Intersections with Dentistry: Approaches to protection

Lourenço, Silvia; Lopes, João-Vitor; Boog, Gustavo-Henrique; Chinelatto, Lucas; Hojaij, Flavio

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 outbreak brought many challenges to the society and to health care systems. Health care professionals in dental practices are a high-risk population, due to close contact to saliva and aerosols. Specific guidance for those professionals is essential to control disease transmission and guarantee dentist’s health. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a literature review based on online search in Pubmed, Scientific Electronic Library, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde and Scopus databases. Included articles were fully read and analysed regarding infection control measurements, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), conditions for procedures and use of mouthrinse. RESULTS: Nineteen articles were added to this review. The majority of them recommended maintaining only urgency treatments, with use of rubber dam and mouthrinse before procedures. CONCLUSIONS: The data collected suggests dental care should be performed under strict protection measures such as a pre-check questionnaire prior to any dental procedure; postponing elective dental treatments and following infection control security procedures may be strategic at this point. The use of adequate PPE for procedures is recommended. Supplementary measures should rise from further understanding of the pandemics. Key words:COVID-19, dentistry, practice.