Management of Coronavirus disease 2019 in dentistry

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The outbreak of COVID-19 which was first detected in Wuhan, China, has evolved swiftly into a worldwide health crisis. The disease started spreading globally from 2019 and has resulted in the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic. Being a recently discovered disease, several aspects about it are unknown. Infection control measures are needed to control this pandemic situation. The characteristics of dental settings may give rise to the risk of cross-infection for both patients and dentists. Thus, certain guidelines should be followed by dental practitioners, and infection control protocols are urgently needed. Literature review was performed in PubMed, PubMed Central, EBSCO, and Google Scholar using keywords to identify and gather data. This article can serve as a guidance for dentists to deal with coronavirus disease.

Keywords

• coronavirus
• coronavirus disease 2019
• dentistry
• infection control
• severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2