Dentists’ Awareness about the Spread of COVID-19 Infection Through Oral Cavity and Role of Saliva as a Diagnostic Tool for the Same

Abstract

Background and Aim An outbreak of pneumonia was announced in Wuhan China in December 2019 and its causative factor was classified as a new Coronavirus. Saliva appears to be a promising tool and an alternative to nasopharyngealoropharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 diagnosis and monitoring. The present study aimed to assess the awareness of the dentists regarding the spread of COVID-19 infections through the oral cavity and the importance of the saliva as a diagnostic tool.Methods This cross-sectional survey was conducted including 400 subjects and an online Google form was used to collect the data. The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions among which five were related to knowledge five were attitude based questions and remaining five questions were related to practice.Chi Square Goodness of Fit test was used to compare the distribution of responses to knowledge attitude and practice based questions.Results Majority 82.7 of the facultypractitioners had a fair knowledge about the spread of COVID-19 infection and saliva as an identification tool. Nearly 76.6 preferred hand scaling during the pandemic. Nearly 69.6 of participants reported to have felt anxious while treating patients during the pandemic. Nearly 74.3 participants believed that Coronavirus can be disinfected using 0.1 sodium hypochlorite. Around 78 participants believed use of high volume salivary ejection as a safe dental practice.Conclusion In the present study facultypractitioners demonstrated fair knowledge regarding the role of oral fluids in the spread of COVID-19 infection and also on the role of saliva as a diagnostic tool for the same.