COVID-19 and dental practice: overview and protocols during pandemic

In December 2019, in Wuhan (China), there were described the first cases of a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 and named COVID-19. Since then the disease has spread in several countries and in March 2020 the WHO declared it pandemic. COVID-19 is associated with a wide range of manifestations from no symptoms to temperature cough, dyspnea, need for artificial ventilation and eventually death. Mortality has been reported to be around 3%. Cases of spreading from asymptomatic infected individuals have been documented. It has become clear that among healthcare professionals, dentists are the most exposed category to the risk of such infection as the routes of transmission are contact, droplets and aerosol, therefore the necessity of providing clear guidelines has suddenly arisen. This article is aimed at analysing the available literature about “SARS-CoV-2” and “COVID-19”, and comparing it with the guidelines for other coronavirus infections and dental practice with a view to providing clinical recommendations about prevention and infection control in the dental environment.