Objectives A multicentre survey was designed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on dental practice worldwide, estimate the COVID-19 related symptoms/signs, work attitudes and behaviour and the routine use of protective measures and personal protective equipment (PPE). Methods A global survey using a standardized questionnaire with research groups from 36 countries was designed. The questionnaire was developed and pretested during April 2020 and contained three domains: 1) personal data; 2) COVID-19 positive rate and symptoms/signs presumably related to the coronavirus; 3) working conditions and PPE adopted after the outbreak. Countries’ data were grouped by the country positive rate (CPR) during the survey period and by Gross-National-Income per capita. An ordinal multinomial logistic regression model was carried out with COVID-19 self-reported rate referred by dental professionals as dependent variable to assess the association with questionnaire items. Results A total of 52,491 questionnaires were returned with a male/female ratio of 0.63. Out of the total respondents, 7,859 dental professionals (15%) reported symptoms/signs compatible with COVID-19. More than half of the sample (n=27,818; 53%) stated to use FFP2/N95 masks, while 21,558 (41.07%) used eye protection. In the bivariate analysis, CPR and N95/FFP2 were significantly associated (OR=1.80 95% CI=1.60/2.82 and OR=5.20 95% CI=1.44/18.80, respectively), while Gross-National-Income was not statistically associated with CPR (OR=1.09 95% CI=0.97/1.60). The same significant associations were observed in the multivariate analysis . Conclusions Oral health service provision has not been significantly affected by COVID-19, although access to routine dental care was reduced due to country-specific temporary lockdown periods. While the dental profession has been identified at high-risk, the reported rates of COVID-19 for dental professionals were not significantly different to those reported for the general population in each country. These findings may help to better plan oral health care for future pandemic events.

Based on enrollment and intervention completion rates, time to completion tests, and feedback from qualitative post-study, follow-up interviews, the ACP-I Plan was demonstrated to be feasible and perceived as extremely helpful.

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This research aims to provide updated information on caries experience and associated risk factors in children 6-12 years old. A cross-sectional and descriptive study design was carried out with a non-probabilistic, convenient sample of 209 children male and female. Clinical examinations were performed by calibrated dental students following WHO detection criteria. Caries indices dmft and DMFT were calculated. Caries Risk Assessment data was collected using an adapted CAMBRA instrument; following the International Caries Care guidelines. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the results and Chi-square test, Contingency Coefficient (C) and Corrected Typified Residues were calculated to determine the association between variables. 58% of the total population had dental caries lesions in its more severe stages (cavitation) and 42% were apparently healthy (AHS) without any cavitated lesions. The mean dmft index was 1.34 ± 1.93, and the mean DMFT index was 0.63 ± 1.22. Lesion severity remained between 1-2 teeth affected on both dentitions. A statistically significant association (p = 0.035) between the health condition and toothbrushing was stablished with a degree of dependence of C = 0.144. A positive standardized residual of 2.1 was evident for schoolchildren that experience caries lesion that never brush their teeth and AHS that brushed their teeth more than once. No association (p = 0.081) was found between health condition and intake of sugary snacks and beverages. A severe dental caries experience with a statistically significant association between the health condition and toothbrushing with fluoridated toothpaste 1450 ppm > 1 a day and a positive correlation in schoolchildren that experience caries lesion that never brush their teeth.