Article Type : Research Article
Authors : Garg E1, Sikri A, Bembi R, Sharma A, Kaur M and Sikri J
Keywords : Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Dental professionals; Infection control
The present outbreak of the severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated 2019
coronavirus strain (COVID-19), has gripped the entire international community
and constitutes a public health emergency all over the world. Despite taking
great efforts globally to prevent its spread, the cases are still on surge
because of the community spread pattern of this infection. Due to the
characteristics of dental settings, the risk of cross infection can be high
between patients and dental practitioners and posed significant challenges in
the field of medical and dental sciences, in all affected countries. The role
of dental professionals in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 is
critically important as they constantly come in contact with oral fluids and
this coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is abundantly present in nasopharyngeal and
salivary secretions of affected patients, and its spread is predominantly
thought to be respiratory droplet /contact with saliva. During this period of
pandemic, while all routine dental procedures have been avoided in areas
experiencing COVID-19 disease, but still the strict and effective infection
control protocols are urgently needed for emergency needs delivered by teams
provided with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Moreover,
ceasing dental care provision or lack of guidelines increase the nosocomial
COVID-19 spread during such a period will amplify the burden on hospital’s
emergency departments already struggling with the pandemic. The aim of this
article is to develop relevant guidelines based on our experience and knowledge
for dental health care workers that should be followed while managing dental
patients during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent its spread and protect
ourselves. All members of the dental team have a professional responsibility to
keep themselves informed of current protocols and be attentive in updating
themselves as recommendations are changing so quickly.
On December 31, 2019, China alerted WHO about several
cases of unusual pneumonia in Wuhan (a port city of 11 million people in the
central Hubei province) caused by an unknown virus [1-3]. Predominant
potentially affected individuals worked at the city’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale
Market, which was shut down on January 1, 2020. As many health experts worked
hard to identify the virus amid growing alarm, the number of infections
exceeded 40. On January 8, 2020, a newly discovered virus was named as novel
coronavirus 2019 officially by WHO and announced as the causative pathogen of
disease COVID-19 (co- corona, vi-virus, d-disease, 2019-outbreak year) by the
Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention [2-4]. Coronavirus Study
Group (CSG) of the International Committee proposed to name this new
coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2, both issued on 11 February 2020. The Chinese
scientists rapidly isolated a SARS-CoV-2 from a patient within a short time on
7 January 2020 and came out to genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2. However,
there is no evidence so far that the origin of SARS-CoV-2 was from the seafood
market. Rather, bats are the natural reservoir of a wide variety of CoVs,
including SARS-CoV-like and MERS-CoV-like virus. Upon virus genome sequencing,
the COVID-19 was analysed throughout the genome to Bat CoV RaTG13 and showed
96.2% overall genome sequence identity, suggesting that bat CoV and human
SARS-CoV-2 might share the same ancestor, although bats are not available for
sale in this seafood market. Besides, protein sequences alignment and
phylogenetic analysis showed that similar residues of receptor were observed in
many species, which provided more possibility of alternative intermediate
hosts, such as turtles, pangolin and snacks [4,5]. Outside mainland China, the
first confirmed case of coronavirus was observed on January 20, 2020 in Japan,
Thailand and South Korea. On January 21, 2020 the first case in US was
identified in Washington State. Also authorities in United States, Nepal,
France, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan
confirmed cases over the following days. On January 30, 2020, the World Health
Organization (WHO) announced that this outbreak had constituted a public health
emergency of international concern [6,7]. On March 11, 2020 WHO declared
COVID-19 a pandemic, pointing to the over 118,000 cases of the coronavirus
illness in over 110 countries and territories around the world and the
sustained risk of future global spread. As of 29 April 2020, COVID-19 has been
recognized in over 213 countries, areas or territories, with a total of over
30, 24,059 confirmed cases and over 208,112 deaths. Studies estimated the basic
reproduction number (R0) of SARS-CoV-2 to be around 2.2, or even more (range
from 1.4 to 6.5), and familial clusters of pneumonia outbreaks add to evidence
of the epidemic COVID-19 steadily growing by human-to-human transmission [8,9].
Currently, our understanding about the transmission of COVID-19 are still to be
determined. Based on findings of genetic and epidemiologic research, it seems
that the COVID-19 outbreak started with a single animal-to-human transmission,
followed by sustained human-to-human spread. It is now believed that its
interpersonal transmission (droplets while talking, sneezing, coughing or
direct contact with mucous membrane) occurs mainly between family members,
including relatives and friends who intimately contacted with patients or
incubation carriers. Transmission between healthcare workers occurred in 3.8%
of COVID-19 patients, issued by the National Health Commission of China on 14
February 2020 [10-12]. By contrast, the transmission of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV
is reported to occur mainly through nosocomial transmission. Infections of
healthcare workers in 33–42% of SARS cases and transmission between patients
(62–79%) was the most common route of infection in MERS-CoV cases. Direct
contact with intermediate host animals or consumption of wild animals was
suspected to be the other main route of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In addition,
there may be risk of fecal-oral transmission, as researchers have identified
SARS-CoV-2 in the stool of patients from China and the United States [10].
However, whether SARS-CoV-2 can be spread through vertical transmission (from
mothers to their new-borns) is yet to be confirmed [13]. All Dental settings
invariably carry high risk of COVID-19 infection due to unique characteristics
and specificity of its procedures, which involves face-to-face communication
with patients, frequent exposure to saliva, blood, and other body fluids,
handling of sharp instruments and use of equipment’s such ultrasonic scalers,
air-water syringes and air turbine handpieces [14]. While dealing with dental
patients, transmission of virus possibly by any of the following routes: firstly,
through inhalation of airborne microorganisms that can remain suspended in the
air for longer periods, secondly, through direct or accidental contact with
blood, oral fluids, or other COVID 19 affected patient materials, thirdly,
contact of conjunctival, nasal or oral fluids with droplets and aerosols
containing microorganisms generated from an infected persons and propelled a
short distance by coughing and talking without a mask, and last but not the
least by an indirect contact with contaminated instruments and/or environmental
surfaces. Moreover, aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is also plausible as the
virus can remain viable and infectious in aerosols for at least three hours and
on surfaces for days. Transmission from asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers’
possibility was also reported [14-17]. Considering that COVID-19 was recently
identified in saliva of infected patients, and this outbreak is a reminder that
dental and other health professionals must always be diligent in protecting
against the spread of contagious disease, and it provides a chance to determine
if a non-invasive saliva diagnostic for COVID-19 could assist in detecting such
viruses and reducing its spread [18]. The exact incubation period is not known.
Based on current epidemiological investigation, it is presumed to be between
1–14 days after exposure, with numerous cases occurring within 5 days after
exposure, however, up to 24 days was also reported in some studies. And the
COVID-19 is contagious during the latency period. It is highly transmissible in
humans, especially in the elderly and individuals with underlying medical
problems. The median age of patients is 47–59 years, and 41.9 45.7% of patients
were females [1,4,19,20]. A recent study led by Prof. Nan-Shan Zhong’s team, by
sampling 1099 laboratory-confirmed cases, found that the common clinical
manifestations included fever (88.7%), cough (67.8%), fatigue (38.1%), sputum
production (33.4%), dyspnea (18.6%), sore throat (13.9%), and headache (13.6%).
In addition, a part of patients manifested gastrointestinal symptoms, with
diarrhea (3.8%), vomiting (5.0%), reduced sense of smell and abnormal taste
sensation. Fever and cough were the dominant symptoms whereas upper respiratory
symptoms and gastrointestinal symptoms were rare, suggesting the differences in
viral tropism as compared with SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and influenza. The elderly
and those with underlying disorders (i.e., hypertension, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immunological disease) developed
rapidly into acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, metabolic
acidosis hard to correct and coagulation dysfunction, even leading to the death
[21,22]. However, on the other hand in April 2020 it is noticeable that, about
80% of the cases have only mild symptoms that resemble flulike symptoms and
seasonal allergies, which might lead to an increased number of undiagnosed
cases. These asymptomatic patients can act as “carriers” and also serve as
reservoir for re-emergence of infection [20]. While the mild COVID-19 cases do
not require specific care, and usually symptomatic treatment and home isolation
are enough. Oxygen therapy is the major intervention for patients with severe
cases. Critical cases management on the other hand is case dependent and will
usually need intensive care. Even after patient recovery, recusancy during the
convalescence period was reported. This is plausible since the presence of some
virus strains in saliva for as long as 29 days have been reported in the
literature.
During current scenario of COVID-19 pandemic,
following universal infection control measures are of utmost importance with
extreme vigilance and championing required by all. However, given the high
transmissibility of the disease and considering that routine dental procedures
usually generate aerosols; during this period of pandemic, alterations to
dental treatment should be considered to maintain a healthy environment for the
patients and the dental team. To date, it has been six weeks since COVID-19
outbreak was declared as a pandemic by WHO; yet most of the dental schools,
dental offices, regulatory and advisory bodies still do not have a clear vision
about the worldwide impact this pandemic can have on dental services. It is
true that many primary and secondary dental services have been suspended
globally in all the affected parts, with many countries providing
telephone-based triage systems to identify those patients requiring urgent or
emergency intervention. Closing dental practices during the pandemic can reduce
the number of affected individuals, but definitely will increase the suffering
of the individuals in need of urgent dental care. It will also incense the
burden on hospitals emergency departments. This calls for the creation of
standard guidelines for dental management during COVID-19 pandemic and/or local
epidemic outbreaks [23-25]. Therefore, purpose of writing this article is to
introduce the essential knowledge about COVID-19 and nosocomial infection and
provide recommended management protocols for entire dental fraternity and
patients in potentially affected areas based upon our experience and relevant
guidelines and research. Thus, during this period of pandemic, every patient should
be considered as potentially infected by this virus, and all dental practices
need to review their infection control policies, engineering controls, and
supplies.
Our primary goal as dental health care workers is to
use telecommunication technology to triage patients and conduct problem-focused
evaluations to limit dental office visits to emergency care only. This can
facilitate providing advice and performing triage. It can also facilitate
whether planning for in-person interactions necessary or not. However, this
action will drastically limit the interpersonal contact, the waiting time of
patients in dental cabinets and, in general, the conditions predisposing
patients to be infected. The three most pertinent questions for initial
screening should include any exposure to a person with known or suspected
COVID-19 infection, any recent travel history to an area with high incidence of
COVID-19/ abroad or presence of any symptoms of febrile respiratory illness
such as fever or cough. A positive response to either of the three questions
should raise initial concern, and elective dental care/ nonemergency dental
procedures should be deferred for at least 2 weeks (Note: As mentioned
previously, the incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 can range from 1–24 days).
These patients should be encouraged to engage in
self-quarantine and contact their primary dental practitioner by telephone or
email [24-26].
All patients should visit dental clinic only after
telecommunication with doctor. It is crucial for dentists to refine
preventative strategies to avoid the spread of COVID-19 infection by focusing
on current guidelines at every stage of contact with patient during dental
consultation or treatment. Every dental patient along with accompanying
individuals, as well as entire dental fraternity must wear surgical mask and
follow proper respiratory hygiene measures, such as covering the mouth and nose
with a tissue before coughing and sneezing before entering the main gate of the
dental office/school/institution.25-26Upon arrival in dental office, entire
dental staff as well as patients first sanitize their hands with 70% isopropyl
alcohol properly in reception area and advised to follow instructions written
on notice board. After that, they should complete a detailed medical history
form, COVID-19 screening questionnaire and assessment of a true emergency
questionnaire (Fig 2 and Fig 3). As a health care provider this is our duty to
help the government of India in contact tracing so maintaining record of every
person visiting to our health care facility. All dental clinics are recommended
to establish precheck triages to measure and intercept the temperature of every
staff and patient as a routine procedure using a noncontact forehead
thermometer or with cameras having infrared thermal sensors before entering the
operatory areas.27,28 Patients who present with fever and/or respiratory
disease symptoms should have elective dental care postponed for at least 2
weeks as discussed above and for emergency cases, infection control protocols
to be followed to curb spread of infection. Potentially life-threatening
conditions include: uncontrolled bleeding, severe uncontrolled dental pain,
diffuse soft tissue swelling, intra/extra oral swelling compromises airway,
trauma involving face/ facial bones, severe trismus, non-healing ulcers, dry
socket, abscess, malignancies or other abnormal growths (soft/ hard tissue) in
orofacial region. As the Indian Penal Code put Doctor-Patient relation under
Consumer Protection Act for us being health care providers we have to protect
ourselves from virus as well as medico-legal issues. Although informed consent
about any procedure is still mandatory an additional COVID-19 consent to be
procured and kept in records [24-28] (Figure 1) (Table 1,2).
Every person present in waiting/ reception area,
patient counselling room, patient preparatory area as well in in scrub area
should wear work clothes, disposable surgical masks and caps. However, in
sterilization and treatment areas, PPE is provided including disposable N 95
masks, gloves, gowns, cap, shoe covers and googles or face shield. The Red
Isolation area should be designed for the suspected COVID-19/ COVID positive
patients or recovering (less than 1 month after discharge from hospital)
patients. Separate entry and exit gates for such patients. The staff also
enters from a separate gate in the isolation area and this area is disinfected
as soon as the patient leaves. All the dental staff should wear surgical mask
and gloves all the time in the dental set-up except while eating (best
precaution is to avoid eating in dental set up). Hand hygiene has been
considered as most critical measure for reducing the risk of transmission amongst
individuals. Recent studies reveal that SARS-CoV-2 can persist on surfaces for
few hours or up to several days, depending upon the type of surface, the
temperature, or the humidity of the environment. This reinforces the need for
maintaining hand hygiene and the importance of thorough disinfection of all
surfaces within the dental settings. Preferred mode of payment during should be
digital non-contact methods like UPI, NEFT, and GOOGLE PAY etc. Most important
is to keep currency handling to bare minimum. However, other most important
point is to appoint the patient with procedure involving generation of aerosols
at the end of the day.
In order to limit nosocomial spread of infection, The School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University has shared its some experiences and based on our knowledge and experience following measures should be followed in entire dental set up.
Figure 1: Algorithm for Clinical Decision Making for COVID-19 and Dental Management.
Figure 2: Operatory area.
Figure 3:
Sequence for putting on personal protective equipment.
Figure 4: How to safely remove personal Protective equipment.
Figure 5: Perform hand Hygiene between steps if hands become contaminated and immediately after removing all PPE.
Figure
6: Showing donning and doffing Of PPE.
Figure 7: Cavicide.
Table 1: COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire.
COVID-19 SCREENING QUESTIONNAIRE |
YES |
NO |
1. Have you or any of your family member have symptoms
of Respiratory illness in last 45 days? (Cough/ Fever/ Sore Throat/
Breathlessness/ Running Nose/ Others) |
|
|
2. Have you or any of your family member have traveled
to any of these locations (National/ Foreign/ Social Gatherings) in last 45
days? - By Road/ Rail/Seaways /Air |
|
|
3. Have you or any of your family member had history of
contact with a Laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases in last 45 days. |
|
|
4. Are you a health care provider? |
|
|
5. Have you or any of your family member had history of
contact with a COVID-19 biological material. |
|
|
6. Urgent Dental Need Question (Do you have
uncontrolled Dental/0ral pain; infection/ swelling/ bleeding or trauma to
oral cavity?) |
|
|
7. Any other necessary information? |
|
|
1. Are you in pain? Yes or No |
2. What is your
level of pain on a scale of
0-10?..............................................................
|
3. When did the
pain begin? |
4. Do you have a
dental abscess (Are your gums and/or face swollen?) Yes or No If Yes, when did you
first notice the swelling? |
5. Do you have a
fever? Yes or No |
6. Are you having
any trouble swallowing? Yes or No |
7. Are you having
any trouble opening your mouth? Yes or No |
8. Did you
experience any trauma? Yes or No Please describe the
trauma………………………………………………………………… |
Table 3: Dental Procedures Which Can Be Performed With Minimum/ No Aerosol Production.
TREATMENT PROCEDURES |
SCOPE
|
ADVISORY
|
Management
of Carious lesions not involving pulp. |
1.
Selective caries removal 2. SDF
application 3. SMART |
Using
sharp excavators, slow speed drill and GIC/RMGIC restoration To arrest
carious lesions in geriatric and pediatric patients SDF application to arrest lesion followed by GIC
restoration |
Minimally
invasive pulp therapy
|
1.
Partial pulpotomies 2. Full
pulpotomies 3. Root canal treatment |
Traumatic
exposures, Iatrogenic exposures. Irreversible
pulpitis, Traumatic and Iatrogenic exposures. Necrotic pulp; Periapical lesion. CaOH2 dressing;
Delay obturation. |
Post
endodontic restorations
|
1.
Monoblocking 2. SS Crown
3. Preformed esthetic crown |
Bonded
composite restoration with cuspal coverage For badly
destroyed molars Long term esthetic provisional restorations |
Bonded
restorations for replacement of missing anterior teeth |
1.
Maryland bridge 2. Fibre
reinforced composite bridge 3.
Lithium disilicate bonded bridge |
Metal
wings, ceramic pontic Lab
fabricated or chairside fabrication using restorative composite resin
Lab fabricated for highly esthetic restorations |
Prosthodontics
|
1.
Impressions 2.
Removable dentures 3.
Management of existing FPDs |
Chemical
disinfection of impressions and wax rims Partial and Complete dentures, Essix
appliances/Flippers. Cementation or bonding of restorations following
usual protocol |
Esthetic
dentistry
|
1. Direct
composite veneers 2.
Diastema closure 3. Class
4 build ups 4. Multiple teeth composite resin build ups (FMR) |
Free hand
or using indices made from wax ups Free hand
with palatal index Free hand
with palatal index Transparent silicone index and injection moulding
technique |
Periodontics
|
1.
Scaling 2. Periodontal surgery |
Only hand
instrumentation Following conventional protocols |
Radiology
|
1.
Panaromic xrays 2. IOPA 3. CBCT |
Preferable
3 layers
of disposable barriers Selected
cases |
Oral
Surgery
|
1.
Exodontia 2.
Abscess drainage 3.
Disimpactions |
Sectioningwith
micromotor drills; fine tipped elevators Following
conventional protocols Bone
drilling to be avoided. Chisel/Mallet technique. Refer to specialist |
Implant
Dentistry
|
1.
Implant placement surgery 2.
Immediate placements 3.
Crestal sinus lifts 4. Ridge
expansion 5. Ridge
augmentation |
Slow
speed drilling protocol without saline for soft bone. Dense bone cases to be
avoided Atraumatic
technique followed by slow speed Osteotomy
dills. Using concave ossteotomes Bone
expansion screws, convex ossteotomes Following
conventional protocols. No harvesting autogeneous bone. |
Orthodontics
|
1.
Changing wires and ligatures 2.
Bonding orthodontic attachments 3.
Interproximal Reduction 4.
Debonding 5.
Placement of microimplants |
Extreme
caution to prevent laceration Wash
etchant with water in syringe and gently use chip blower to dry
Use IPR
strips
Delay
debonding Avoid
irrigation, use moist gauze to maintain field of vision |
Waiting
Area/ Reception Area Guidelines
Patients waiting area to be spacious and additional
increase in distance between chairs following the norms of social distancing
(As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, individuals
with suspected COVID-19 infection should be seated in a separate, well-ventilated
waiting area at least 6 feet from unaffected patients seeking care or they may
be advised to wait in their cars); remove all amenities that involve high touch
(magazines/newspaper/ other reading materials/ coffee or tea service); usage of
disposable glasses instead of steel utensils for water; consistent disinfection
of waiting area/ front desk counter space/ areas that are constantly touched
like door knobs, tables, handles, chairs etc. throughout open hours;
availability of sanitizers and masks and try to avoid/ minimize the use of cell
phones during working hours (use plastic sheets to cover cell phones that
should be disposed daily). Also, pens record books and appointment books to be
kept in a closed formalin chamber to keep it free from any contaminants. In
addition, try to reduce number of staff all times (members can follow a
rotation positioning to avoid unnecessary exposure) (Figure 2).
Operatory
Area Guidelines
Operatory area should be spacious with windows/vents
for air circulation; only equipment/material to be used at the point of time to
be kept outside; remove all text books and models; cover all fomite bearing
surfaces like x-ray viewer, computers, pulseoxymeters, micro motor, scaling
unit with plastic sheets; all the bins with respective biomedical colour coding
to be filled with diluted sodium hypochlorite; also all surfaces of dental
chair to be disinfected with appropriate disinfectant (70% alcohol/ 0.5%
hydrogen peroxide/ 0.1% sodium hypochlorite) after OPD of every patient; six
handed dentistry (3 staff to be present in operatory with complete PPE- 2 staff
to perform procedure and one to act as runner and to help maintain disinfection
protocol); preoperative antimicrobial mouth rinse could reduce the number of
microbes in the oral cavity and use of rubber dams and saliva ejectors with
high volume can also reduce the production of droplets and aerosols. In
addition, other alternatives to reduce spread during this outbreak is to avoid
taking intra-oral radiographs, instead go for extra-oral dental radiographs
such as panoramic radiography (OPG) or Cone Bean Computed Tomography (CBCT).
The positioning of patients on dental chairs are in such a way so that they are
at a distance from operator’s face; use of one PPE per patient; careful
handling of sharp instruments; use resorbable sutures to eliminate the need for
a follow up appointment and try to use disposable (single-use) devices such as
mouth mirror, syringes, and blood pressure cuff to prevent cross contamination.
In this time of public health crisis, endodontic practices can dilute the
sodium hypochlorite irrigant solution to 1% concentration, to extend the
supplies without compromising on treatment outcome. All the dental procedures
which can be performed with minimum aerosol/ no aerosol production are
discussed in Table 3 [26-29] (Table 3).
Table
1: Dental Procedures Which Can Be Performed
With Minimum/ No Aerosol Production
Changing
Area Guidelines: proper
provision of hand hygiene to be present in changing area illustrates Centre for
Disease Control and prevention guidelines for putting and removing PPE [26].
Sterilization
Area Guidelines: All
instruments to be immersed in sodium hypochlorite- detergent solution for 24
hours and then transferred to ultra-sonic cleaner next day. All instruments
used in the mouth/ penetrating tissue must have been sterilized or must be
single-use/disposable. Hand pieces, nose cones, contra-angles, low speed
motors, adapters and all other dental instruments must be autoclaved before use
in oral cavity. Sterilization and disinfection cycle of dental instruments and
dental office (Figure 3-7).
At the end of the day, clean all operatory items and
surfaces by wearing heavy-duty, nitrile rubber gloves and using cavicide
disinfectant. This includes entire furniture, walls, dental chair, unit
pedestal and arms, power module and light post. Wipe all the smooth surfaces
with a paper towel and the irregular surfaces with a clean hand brush or
denture brush. In order to permit adequate floor cleaning by the housekeeping
staff, hoses must not be left on the floor, the chair must be raised to its
highest position, and the foot controller placed on a paper towel on the seat.
Proper disposal of biomedical waste management should be done by using yellow,
red, white and blue bins.
Everyone all over the world are trying, praying, and
playing their role best in controlling this COVID-19 pandemic faced globally.
Once we are over, the active spread and containing the infection our world as
we know, it will never be same again specially in regards to the dental
fraternity and their patients. As COVID-19 has altered the lifestyle all over
the globe even we as dental professionals have to alter our protocols for
protection of our patients, to prevent spread of COVID-19 and protect
ourselves. Dental teams must ensure they remain updated in their understanding
of local, regional, and national guidance in a climate of uncertainty and
frequent change to optimise safety for dental care providers and patients.
Dentists who treat children during this pandemic should enact universal
infection control procedures to the highest standard and champion this
behaviour through their teams. Health care workers also provide adequate
training to their staff to promote many levels of screening and preventive
measures, allowing dental care to be provided while mitigating the spread of
this novel infection. In nutshell, the significant limitation of clinical and
surgical activities in the dental sector has represented a very impactful measure
on the economy of the sector. Nevertheless, this drastic intervention has made
it possible to protect the health and safety of citizens and contain the
expansion of the coronavirus. Therefore, the policies and measure packages
adopted by governments are addressed to all dental associations, stating clear
guidelines to prevent and to control COVID -19 infection in oral diagnosis and
treatment in daily practice until a vaccine or a drug becomes available.