Current Clinical Dental Practice Guidelines and the Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Care Providers

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been acknowledged as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The aim of this study was to review guidelines issued by different health regulatory bodies amid the COVID-19 outbreak and financial constraints faced by dentists globally. Relevant papers and news articles were identified in Google Scholar and PubMed. The search was made using the keywords “COVID-19,” “COVID-19 and dentistry,” and “the financial impact of COVID-19 on dentistry.” Studies and news articles published in languages other than English were excluded and a final selection of 53 relevant studies, guideline documents, and news articles were made. The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected all businesses including general dental practices, which are suffering huge financial losses as they have been advised to provide only emergency dental care. These recommendations should be appreciated as a positive step but they have caused serious financial implications for dental practices. It can be concluded that current dental practice globally is limited to the provision of emergency treatments only. This step is appreciative, but has resulted in huge financial losses sustained by dental care providers (DCPs) worldwide. The governments and health regulatory bodies of developed countries are trying to help dental practices to evolve from this troublesome situation, but there is no visible policy from the underdeveloped world that could help the DCPs to save their practices from closing down due to the financial constraints.

Dental and Medical Students’ Knowledge and Attitude toward COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study from Pakistan

“…However, symptomatic treatment options are available that should be followed in case of susceptibility. 16 Healthcare workers are at great risk during this COVID-19 outbreak. 17 A study by Ikhlaq et al on the medical undergraduate students enrolled in Lahore Medical College identified adequate knowledge and awareness regarding COVID-19.…”

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“…It is important to make certain that they have minimal chances of exposure to COVID-19 infection during dental visit. These measures should include relatively simple steps that are to be followed by dental health care providers such as screening of dental patients and staff by checking body temperature using a noncontact forehead thermometer, 21 as recommended by health care authorities. Currently, body temperature is being used worldwide as an important initial parameter to determine if a person may potentially be with infected with COVID-19.…”

“…Screening can also be done by taking appropriate history and asking questions regarding any relevant symptoms that the patient or the dental staff might have that could be suspected of COVID-19, as well as history of traveling from any area where they may have potentially got infected. 21,22 These noninvasive measures could help to identify suspect individuals, after which they could be directed to take relevant measures as recommended by local health care authorities. This would help limit the infection to other members of the community.…”

“…These include the use of high volume suction to control the spread of aerosols. 21 The necessity of using PPE, proper sterilization of instruments, disinfection of the operatory after every patient, and proper disposal of wastes are part of the universal precautions that should already be in place in every dental office, to prevent the spread of not only COVID-19 but other infectious diseases as well. 22 The positive response of the dental patients showed that they are aware of the importance of all these measures for cross-infection control as well.…”

Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on periodontal practice: A questionnaire survey

“…In this challenging scenario, health professionals have faced drastic changes in their clinical routines, including enacting strict practices against cross‐infection, enhancing the management of minimally invasive procedures that generate less aerosols, reducing the number of patient visits (Jamal et al, 2020), and developing protocols for teleodontology services (Maret et al, 2020). Recent studies have indicated that the COVID‐19 pandemic has had not only negative economic consequences (Ali et al, 2020; Nibali et al, 2020; Schwendicke et al, 2020) but also increased the levels of fear and anxiety among the dental workforce (Ahmed et al, 2020; Chaudhary et al, 2020; Sharma et al, 2020). In this context, periodontists have been forced to adapt their clinical practice in various ways to reduce the transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 while, at the same time, figuring out how to manage the emotional and financial impacts related to their new professional routine.…”