COVID-19: the impact on oral health care

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has high-lighted the economic, social, and oral care health inequities in societies, especially in the developing world. Severe restrictions have been imposed on dental practices, limiting prophylactic and rou-tine oral care health, allowing treatment only for emergencies. Since dental care includes procedures that generate aerosols, the risk of infection for dental personnel has increased significantly. In this review, a comprehensive and updated source of information about SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and the impacts it is having on oral health care is presented. The ongoing repercussions in dental practice and in dental education, including the opportunities for practice innovation that are evolving, are also indicated. Also, a discussion of the psychosocial factors that affect health and the quality of life of an individual, such as stress, de-pression, and anxiety, is provided. This pandemic may be an opportunity to promote the inclusion of well-established prevention measures, together with the use of teledentistry in academic dental curricula, encourage the implementation of new perspectives for the effective instruction and in-teractions with students, and foster the transition toward e-learning strategies in dental education.