Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China, in December 2019, and due to its rapid spread rate, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and a public health emergency of international concern. The transmission of any infection in a dental office...

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Main Authors: Amina Sultan, Neetika Singh, Akanksha Juneja
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
Series:Journal of International Clinical Dental Research Organization
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.jicdro.org/article.asp?issn=2231-0754;year=2020;volume=12;issue=2;spage=94;epage=101;aulast=Sultan
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author Amina Sultan
Neetika Singh
Akanksha Juneja
author_facet Amina Sultan
Neetika Singh
Akanksha Juneja
author_sort Amina Sultan
collection DOAJ
description The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China, in December 2019, and due to its rapid spread rate, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and a public health emergency of international concern. The transmission of any infection in a dental office can occur while coming in direct contact with body fluids of an infected patient, environmental surfaces or contaminated dental instruments, or from the infectious particles that have become airborne. Even though the main source of transmission are the patients showing symptoms of COVID-19, recently, asymptomatic patients and patients in their incubation period are reported to be also the carriers of SARS-CoV-2, thereby increasing the risk of spread to close contacts and health-care workers. Because any patient could be a potential asymptomatic COVID-19 carrier, it is advisable to perform tele-screening of all the patients reporting to the clinic. As the transmission of 2019-nCoV via droplets and aerosol is of grave concern, as despite all the precautions taken, it is almost impossible to reduce droplet and aerosol production to zero during dental procedures, hence it is wise that the dental health professionals should not be dependent on any single infection control strategy.
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spelling doaj.art-abfce5125ef44fc59dff7c7ae0df93792022-12-21T19:38:20ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of International Clinical Dental Research Organization2231-07542020-01-011229410110.4103/jicdro.jicdro_27_20Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19Amina SultanNeetika SinghAkanksha JunejaThe novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China, in December 2019, and due to its rapid spread rate, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and a public health emergency of international concern. The transmission of any infection in a dental office can occur while coming in direct contact with body fluids of an infected patient, environmental surfaces or contaminated dental instruments, or from the infectious particles that have become airborne. Even though the main source of transmission are the patients showing symptoms of COVID-19, recently, asymptomatic patients and patients in their incubation period are reported to be also the carriers of SARS-CoV-2, thereby increasing the risk of spread to close contacts and health-care workers. Because any patient could be a potential asymptomatic COVID-19 carrier, it is advisable to perform tele-screening of all the patients reporting to the clinic. As the transmission of 2019-nCoV via droplets and aerosol is of grave concern, as despite all the precautions taken, it is almost impossible to reduce droplet and aerosol production to zero during dental procedures, hence it is wise that the dental health professionals should not be dependent on any single infection control strategy.http://www.jicdro.org/article.asp?issn=2231-0754;year=2020;volume=12;issue=2;spage=94;epage=101;aulast=Sultancoronaviruscovid-19dental healthdental risk managementpandemicsars-cov-2 infection control
spellingShingle Amina Sultan
Neetika Singh
Akanksha Juneja
Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19
Journal of International Clinical Dental Research Organization
coronavirus
covid-19
dental health
dental risk management
pandemic
sars-cov-2 infection control
title Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19
title_full Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19
title_fullStr Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19
title_short Dentistry and Risk Management – A Challenging Balance in an Era of COVID-19
title_sort dentistry and risk management a challenging balance in an era of covid 19
topic coronavirus
covid-19
dental health
dental risk management
pandemic
sars-cov-2 infection control
url http://www.jicdro.org/article.asp?issn=2231-0754;year=2020;volume=12;issue=2;spage=94;epage=101;aulast=Sultan
work_keys_str_mv AT aminasultan dentistryandriskmanagementachallengingbalanceinaneraofcovid19
AT neetikasingh dentistryandriskmanagementachallengingbalanceinaneraofcovid19
AT akankshajuneja dentistryandriskmanagementachallengingbalanceinaneraofcovid19