Objective In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Indian Government imposed a countrywide lockdown of 21 days from March 25 to April 14, 2020, which was further extended to 60 days. The sudden draconian measures changed the delivery of dental education and practice throughout the country. The study aimed to screen for depression during the COVID-19 lockdown and the factors associated with it among dental students and practitioners in highly COVID-19 infected states of India. Materials and Methods The current study is an online cross-sectional survey performed in Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu during May 2020. The participants were recruited by convenience sampling. The main outcome measure was the screening of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), which was categorized as mild, moderate, and severe depression. The data analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Version 23.0. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify the independent predictors of depression. Results In total, 335 dental students and practitioners participated in the survey. Among this, a significant number of the dental students (54%) and practitioners (44%) scored moderate to severe depression in terms of depression severity according to the PHQ-9 scores. Those who were screened depressed were likely to be males and younger than 30 years old. The results of correlation analysis indicated that worry about the professional growth, concerns regarding setbacks in clinical and research experiences, previous history of mental health issues, and fear of contracting COVID-19 from patients were positively related to higher depression scores in students. Moreover, for practitioners, fear of contracting COVID-19 from the patients scored higher levels of depression. The practitioners who reported less concern about their practice/job post COVID-19 lockdown and those who were able to meet their financial expenses during the lockdown were the least likely to be depressed. Conclusion The results of this study indicate a high level of depression among a significant number of dental students and practitioners. It is important to monitor and address the mental health needs of dental students and practitioners during and after the lockdown.

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Background. This study aimed to investigate the endodontic debridement efficacy of different sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) irrigation regimens with and without ultrasonic agitation, followed by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after using a rotary instrumentation system. Methods. Mandibular premolars (n=50) were randomly divided into five experimental groups (n=10) for root canal instrumentation with ProTaper Universal rotary system up to F3. The root canal system was treated with intracanal-heated NaOCl (100°C) or preheated NaOCl (55°C), followed by ultrasonic agitation and EDTA treatment. Samples irrigated with conventional needle irrigation (CNI) using normal saline solution were used as controls. Debridement efficacy was analyzed by SEM. A five-point scale was used to estimate the presence/absence of debris for each canal segment (coronal, middle, and apical). The results were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey tests (P<0.05). Results. The experimental groups exhibited less debris compared to CNI with saline (P<0.05). The amount of debris decreased significantly for the group with NaOCl intracanal heating compared to extraoral heating. Ultrasonic agitation further enhanced the root canal debridement efficacy of NaOCl. Conclusion. In summary, intracanal heating of NaOCl with and without ultrasonic agitation followed by EDTA appears to be a promising method to flush debris from the root canal system.