Oral medicine practice during COVID-19: A scoping review

Abstract

Oral healthcare providers work near the face of the patients and are at an increased risk of being infected or transmitting the infection to the patients. Standard practice guidelines have to be modified to reorganize Oral Medicine care in the new normality of the COVID-19 pandemic to minimize the negative impacts of the infection on oral and systemic health. This scoping review aims to assess the guidelines for the safe practice of Oral Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature search was done using Medline and Pubmed as the database and 23 articles were identified related to 8 domains. Utilization of teledentistry, efficient triaging of the patients with strict adherence to the infection control protocols, knowledge of the possible oral manifestations, and management of patients based on their presenting symptoms can help for the safe practice of Oral Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• covid-19
• infection control
• oral lesions
• oral medicine
• practice guidelines