A Pinch of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: Proactive Dentistry in the Wake of COVID-19

Abstract

We live in an increasingly globalized and transnational world. With modern advances in travel, humans move around today more than in any previous generation. Although this has tremendous benefits in cultural and societal advancements, it also creates great liability in epidemiology because modern outbreaks have no borders and cross all levels of society, regardless of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has ushered in unprecedented times. Because the average infected person will spread the disease to 2 or 3 others, its spread has been exponential.