Dental care and personal protective measures for dentists and non-dental health care workers

Shankargouda Patil; Ibtisam Hussain Moafa; Shilpa Bhandi; Mohammed Abdurabu Jafer; Samar Saeed Khan; Shahrukh Khan; William B Carroll; Kamran Habib Awan

doi:10.1016/j.disamonth.2020.101056

Dental care and personal protective measures for dentists and non-dental health care workers

Dis Mon. 2020 Sep;66(9):101056. doi: 10.1016/j.disamonth.2020.101056. Epub 2020 Jul 30.

Authors

Shankargouda Patil¹, Ibtisam Hussain Moafa², Shilpa Bhandi³, Mohammed Abdurabu Jafer⁴, Samar Saeed Khan⁵, Shahrukh Khan⁶, William B Carroll⁷, Kamran Habib Awan⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences, Division of Oral Pathology, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
² Maastricht University, Care and Public Health Research Institute, the Netherlands.
³ Department of Restorative Sciences, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Health Promotion Department, Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
⁶ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
⁷ College of Dental Medicine, Roseman University of Health Sciences, South Jordan, UT, United States.
⁸ College of Dental Medicine, Roseman University of Health Sciences, South Jordan, UT, United States. Electronic address: kamranhabibawan@gmail.com.

Abstract

As a pathogen spread primarily by the respiratory route COVID-19 infection not only poses significant risks to health care workers, but to dentists and dental health care workers, owing to the potential prolonged exposure and proximity to patients. This holds true for non-dentist health care workers who often in the setting of emergency departments and urgent care centers are tasked with addressing oral symptoms including abscesses, damaged teeth, jaw injuries and other dental urgencies. Infection control practice guidelines were evaluated for COVID-19 infection prevention in a dental setting. In this brief review, protective measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection for dentists and non-dentist health care providers will be introduced. This includes patient evaluation, personal and patient protective equipment use, sterilization and disinfection protocols.

Keywords: COVID-19; Clinical decision making; Dental; Infection control; Risk factor; SARS-COV-2.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / diagnosis
COVID-19 / prevention & control*
COVID-19 / transmission
COVID-19 Testing / methods
Dental Care / instrumentation
Dental Care / methods*
Dentists*
Health Personnel
Humans
Infection Control / instrumentation
Infection Control / methods*
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / prevention & control*
Personal Protective Equipment*
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification