COVID-19: Present and Future Challenges in Dental Practice

The World Health Organization has classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, with a high death rate of up to 8%. SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus, is the virus that causes the sickness. Because of the seriousness of the disease's consequences and its high incidence of transmission, regulatory bodies such as the American Dental Association have advised dentists to avoid treating dental patients except for those who have an emergency complaint. This was primarily to safeguard dental healthcare staff, their families, contacts, and patients from the viral transmission and conserve critically required personal protective equipment supplies (PPE). Dentists should follow cross-infection control protocols at all times, but especially during this critical period, they should do their best to determine which emergency cases require dental treatment. Dentists should also be informed about how the pandemic affects their profession to be adequately informed and prepared. This review will cover various topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including prevention, treatment, and orofacial clinical symptoms, all of which are relevant to dental practice.

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Prevention: Provision of Dental Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the pandemic was identified, the ADA has had a consistent stance. They urged clinicians to postpone all elective dental treatments for all patients and limit dental care to urgent or emergencies. The primary goals were to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission via healthcare and avoid a lack of PPE for healthcare employees caring for COVID-19 patients or dental healthcare personnel providing emergency dental care. They went on to define dental emergencies as "potentially life-threatening conditions that require immediate treatment to stop ongoing tissue bleeding, alleviate severe pain, or prevent infection"; thus, cellulitis, uncontrolled bleeding, or trauma are examples of emergency conditions that should be treated.

The NHS has advised dentists to provide primary dental treatment only for COVID-19 patients with no symptoms, as long as no aerosol-generating operations are performed. The NHS's recommendations were amended in response to the changing condition of the epidemic, such that the most current suggestion was in line with the ADA's.

Propositions

Dentists play a critical role in the global fight against pandemics such as COVID-19. They've worked with cross-infection control and barrier approaches before. Suture implantation, hemostatic treatments, and parenteral medication delivery are skills they possess in several nations. They are also active members of diverse professional groups and have prior pain management expertise. They're well-suited to dealing with vulnerable patients, including youngsters, pregnant women, and the elderly. On the other hand, dentists should understand the necessity of adhering to the rules for providing oral healthcare to safeguard their patients and members of the dental team.

It is undoubtedly a good time for the dental school to expand the course's learning outcomes and include the additional role of dentistry in dealing with natural disasters and pandemics. In addition, dentists need to be prepared to become active medical team members dealing with pandemics. A specialized dentist association offers a continuing education course for dentists to strengthen their role in the medical team by providing systems on essential aspects of acute care such as basic life support, phlebotomy, and drug prescribing.