Dental Practice after COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Italian Guidelines and Current Literature to Propose Appropriate Protocols for Dental Practices

Abstract

On March 11th, 2020, WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. This disease is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a virus that can be spread by symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers through contact, droplets and airborne transmission. Because of the transmission routes of this virus, dental treatments are considered “high risk” procedures, both for patients and operators. Italy was one of the most affected European countries and experienced a long lockdown period. Guidelines were provided by the Italian Health Ministry for a safe reopening of dental practices. In this article those guidelines are reported and compared with the available literature. The Italian model for reopening dental practice appears to be coherent with the indications provided by WHO and is supported by several studies.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• Dentistry