Brazilian Primary and Secondary Public Oral Health Attention: Are Dentists Ready to Face the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Anya P.G.F Vieira-Meyer,Helena P.G Santos,Maíra B Coutinho,George T De M Candeiro,Maria V Saintrain

doi:10.1017/dmp.2020.342

Abstract

To investigate knowledge and practice of Brazilian public primary and secondary health care dentists during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. An online questionnaire with sociodemographic and COVID-19 knowledge questions was used. A total of 4048 dentists working in the Brazilian public primary and secondary health care system were investigated; 4024 (99.41%) believe that COVID-19 can be transmitted through dental procedures. A fair level of COVID-19 symptoms knowledge by these dentists was observed (3.76±1.27 of 6.00), as well as the skepticism in personal protective equipment (3382; 83.55%) and biosafety procedures (3278; 80.98%) used as an efficient form of COVID-19 transmission prevention. Country region, performance of social distancing, dental specialty, the use of personal protective equipment, and biosafety preventive measures influenced the likelihood of dentists to perform dental treatment, either elective or urgent, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The need of extra preventive barriers for dental treatment may bring an extra financial stress in the Brazilian public primary and secondary health care system, as well as in the patient-dentist relationship, which may have to be reframed. Internationally accepted public guideline policies regarding dental treatment safety, as well as the technological development of preventive tools, are needed to deal with the challenges brought by COVID-19.

Highlights

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Believed that COVID-19 can be transmitted through dental procedures; 3382 (83.55%) did not believe that the personal protective equipment (PPE) they routinely use is enough to protect from SARS-CoV-2 contamination; and 3278 (80.98%) consider the biosafety measures usually used in the day-to-day dental care insufficient to prevent COVID-19 contamination
The present study showed a fair level of knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms among dentists working in the primary and secondary health care system

Summary

Introduction

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first reported in Wuhan, China, in 2019, and has since spread around the world with exponential growth. Its symptoms can range from a common cold, with fever, malaise, stuffy nose and dry cough, to more severe findings, involving dyspnea and short of breath, as seen in Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).[3,4,5] Other symptoms are headache, myalgia, sore throat, diarrhea, sputum production, hemoptysis, and vomiting.[4,5,6,7,8] These symptoms can vary in magnitude among infected people, and some may test positive for the virus being asymptomatic, whereas others may have mild, medium, or severe symptoms.[6,8] About 1 to 2% of the cases culminate in death.[3]

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