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Objectives This study aims to describe the perception of dental professionals in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (SA) towards the practice of teledentistry, its usefulness and challenges. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out among 190 dentists from January 2021 to April 2021. The participants were included in the study using snowball sampling method. A 26-item adopted questionnaire was distributed using different social media channels. Chi-square test was used for analysis. Results Out of 190 participants, 46.3% were from Pakistan and 53.7% were from SA. The majority of participants in both countries agreed that teledentistry would enhance guidelines and advice (74.2%), improve peer-to-peer interaction (79.5%) and make patient's referrals more efficient (75.8%). For the usefulness, most participants agree that it is economical for the patients (61.1%), improves communication (74.7%), helps in educating the patients (86.3%), avoid unnecessary travel (76.8%), helps monitoring (71.6%), and benefits patients in remote areas (74.7%); however, more Pakistani participants perceived that time spent with the patient would increase compared to SA participants ( p < 0.001) and a higher proportion of SA participants believe that it helps in communication and monitoring of patients ( p < 0.001) than Pakistani participants. Regarding the challenges in the use of teledentistry, few participants think that it violates the patient's privacy (22.6%) or is difficult to use (14.7%) or have distrust towards the teledentistry equipment (24.2%). Conclusion The results indicated a high awareness and a positive attitude towards teledentistry, and its adaptation in their dental practice in both countries. However, limited infrastructure, set-up cost, and information technology (IT) literacy are the main challenges in integrating teledentistry which can be overcome by strategic government initiatives, policies, and programs.

Background. The risk of acquiring COVID-19 during a pandemic is a major concern among health care workers. Dental professionals being in close proximity to the patients had been exposed more than other health care workers. Hence, all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are strictly advised to be followed. Methods. A detailed relevant literature search was conducted in international databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct, from January 2020 to November 2020. All the studies that provided recommendations regarding endodontic procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic were included, and those that were not in the English language, case reports, book chapters, and short communications were excluded in this review. In the end, only 6 articles were selected for the systematic review considering that complete information regarding the provision of dental care in the time of COVID-19 with diagnostic accuracy (STARD) was provided. Results. Endodontic treatments were restricted to only emergency dental procedures, and all other patients have advised medications and catered through teledentistry. Endodontic emergencies were advised to be carried out with minimal aerosol production procedures. Conclusion. Provision of endodontic care during COVID-19 restricted to only emergency dental procedures by strictly following standard operating procedures. A protocol for COVID-19 prevention was followed by all the dentists and the dental staff in the dental clinics.

Warfarin is a readily available anticoagulant used worldwide in a variety of clinical scenarios. Patients who need more than 15 mg/day are considered to be warfarin resistant. Numerous genes have been implicated in warfarin pharmacogenetics, with genes encoding CYP2C9 and VKORC1 shown to be the most important determinants of drug dosage requirements. A 27-year-old woman was admitted as she had a sub-therapeutic international normalized ratio (INR) after prosthetic mitral valve replacement. Even after a warfarin dose of 50 mg/day, her INR was not in the therapeutic range, so the heart team decided to replace her metallic valve with a bioprosthetic valve, thus alleviating the need for anticoagulation.

This study aims to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health and dental practice of oral health-care workers (OHCWs). The search for relevant literature was carried out online using PubMed, Web of science, and science direct databases from January 2020 to February 2021. Those articles were included that provided complete information about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on oral health-care workers during covid-19 and were original articles and reviews. Those articles were excluded from the current study that was not in English Language and involved case reports/book chapters/short communications. Finally, only 8 articles were selected for the scoping review considering that complete information regarding the provision of dental care in the time of COVID-19 was provided. Increased psychological distress (especially those with existing comorbidities) was noted among the OHCWs during this pandemic. They had enough knowledge about COVID-19 and showed concern regarding the future of dentistry. Either complete or partial closure of dental clinics had introduced financial constraints among them. However, the majority of them did not switch their profession. The institutions were not prepared for any such situation and no training was conducted to control the spread of COVID-19 infection. OHCWs are fully aware of the knowledge regarding COVID-19 and showed concerns for dentistry and dental health-care workers during this pandemic. Complete or partial closure of dental clinics has had adverse effects on the future of dentistry, economically as well as psychologically. Institutions need to upgrade and strengthen their systems to cater to any such situation efficiently. Proper counseling sessions should be conducted for the OHCWs to monitor, identify and treat the cases found.