Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the globe, becoming a major public health challenge not for China only, but also for countries around the world. Despite worldwide efforts to contain viral spread, the outbreak has not been stopped yet. Among healthcare personnel, dentists seem to be at elevated risk of exposure to COVID-19. This risk is even more serious in pediatric dentistry, since affected children, frequently, present an asymptomatic, mild or moderate clinical viral infection and, therefore, they may play a major role in community-based COVID-19 transmission. To date, despite no universal guidelines are available for dental procedures in pediatric dentistry during COVID-19 outbreak, routine dental practice should be postponed and only severe dental emergencies must be treated. In the case of a dental emergency, involving a pediatric patient, dentists should be aware of which recommended management protocol can be adopted during the practice to protect patient health, to safeguard their-self and to prevent viral transmission. The aim of this paper is to provide clinical recommendations, presenting a needed tool for dentists to allow a valid and safe how-to-do protocol. Pediatric dentists should keep a high level of awareness to help patients, minimize risk and prevent viral spread.
Highlights
There is still limited information on the model that dentists should follow for the management of emergency dental procedure on children during COVID-19 outbreak
Since the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve day by day, pediatric dentists should keep a high level of awareness to help patients, minimizing risk and preventing viral spread
All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript
Summary
Dentists seem to be at elevated risk of exposure to COVID-19 This risk is even more serious in pediatric dentistry, since affected children, frequently, present an asymptomatic, mild or moderate clinical viral infection and, they may play a major role in community-based COVID-19 transmission. In December 2019, a new type of coronavirus that causes pneumonia was first detected in Wuhan, China [1]. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the globe, becoming a major public health challenge not for China only, and for countries around the world [7]. In Italy, the outbreak is dramatic: the first person-to-person transmission was reported on 21 February 2020, and led to an infection sequence that caused the greatest number of deaths in the world [8,9,10] until.
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