The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) generated a huge pressure on health care systems worldwide and exposed their lack of preparation for a major health crisis. In the times of a respiratory disease pandemic, members of the dental profession, due to having a direct contact with the patients' oral cavity, body fluids and airborne pathogens, are exposed to a great occupational hazard of becoming infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The authors carried out a systematic literature search using the main online databases