Infection Control and Prevention Strategies in Dental Practices during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by Coronavirus is causing severe acute respiratory infections. The profession of dental health service workers must know the proper infection prevention and control. The profession of dental health care workers in low-middle-income countries is at odds with developed countries in facing the challenges of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and infrastructure constraints. This study aims to determine infection prevention and control strategies in dental health service practices during the Covid-19 pandemic in lower middle countries. The method used in this paper is a systematic literature review method and is analyzed according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, carried out by reviewing journals traced from international databases published between 2019 and 2021. Researchers conducted a search for data sources from the Pubmed and Mendeley databases. Search for articles in 2019-2021. There are 20 journals that fall into the criteria. The results showed that during the Covid-19 pandemic, infection prevention and control measures were needed in dental service practices in middle- and lower-income countries. Dental treatment procedures should be carried out with cross infection prevention and control in accordance with procedures and guidelines such as; patient screening, pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment, and prevention in the dental health service practice room Keywords: COVID-19, Dental, infection prevention and protection, middle- and lower-income countries.