Prevention and control of novel coronavirus infection in department of stomatology

Abstract

During a short period of time, the COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus and first reported by the end of the year 2019 in China, has spread rapidly to many countries and regions outside China. The number of confirmed cases and deaths continued to rise. World Health Organization announced that the outbreaks of the novel coronavirus infection have constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Efficient infection control can prevent the virus from further spreading, which may make the pandemic situation under control. Due to the specialty of oral healthcare settings, the risk of cross infection is severe among patients and oral healthcare workers. It's urgent to implement more strict and efficient infection control protocols. This article, based on existing guidelines and published researches pertinent to dental infection-control principles and practices, mainly discusses epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 and the features of nosocomial infection in oral healthcare settings, and furthermore provides recommendations on patient's evaluation, and infection control protocols in departments of stomatology under current circumstance.