Year : 2019

Volume : Volume 10

Issue : Issue 3

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Saumya Vats.
saumyavats2011@gmail.com

Abstract

Background:  The rapid and extensive spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major cause of concern for the healthcare profession. Dental professionals are at a very high risk of getting exposed to the coronavirus from an asymptomatic patient. This was also highlighted by a New York Times article “The Workers Who Face the Greatest Coronavirus Risk.”8 Direct transmission through cough, sneeze, droplet inhalation and contact transmission through oral, nasal, and mucous membranes have been proposed to be the most common routes of transmission of the virus. Due to the characteristics of dental settings, the risk of cross infection may be high between dental practitioners and patients. For dental practices and hospitals in countries/regions that are potentially affected with COVID-19, strict and effective infection control protocols are urgently needed. This article is based on the various studies conducted in order to know about the awareness, experience and relevant guidelines and research, introduces the essential knowledge about COVID-19 and nosocomial infection in dental settings and provides recommended management protocols for dental practitioners and students in potentially affected areas. Methodology: A literature search was performed to retrieve research articles regarding COVID-19 and clinical dentistry using PUBMED and google scholar. No attempt to exclude any information was performed, to capture all the possible data. Out of 32 articles present on the searching sites 4 Indian research articles were evaluated for the awareness and clinical practice in a Indian clinical setting. Results: Among the  4 studies selected in  relation to awareness, knowledge and attitude  of  dental practitioners in India  towards COVID’19 ;it can be seen that the maximum of 93% dental practitioner were aware about the global pandemic disease .A maximum of 90.3% of dentist were aware regarding the incubation period of 21 days. Almost 87% of the dentists were aware regarding the symptoms of this global pandemic disease. According to the study by Gambhir et al 86.7% of dentist agree by the fact that proper sterilization protocol may aid in decrease in infection spread. Whereas according to the study by Kinariwala et al and Gambhir et al, hand hygiene can reduce the disease spread from dentist to the patient and vice –versa by 94.8% and 94.2% respectively.