A Scoping Review of Respirator Literature and a Survey among Dental Professionals

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus was discovered in China in late 2019 and subsequently triggered a global pandemic. Dentists, like many other health professionals, are at an increased risk of contracting the virus as they work in close proximity to patients, especially when performing aerosol-generating procedures. Thus, in order for dentists to protect themselves and their patients, it is recommended that practitioners wear filtering facepiece 2 (FFP2) respirators. The prolonged use of these FFP2 respirators has been linked to several side effects. The aim of this paper is to assess the perceived experience associated with N95/FFP2 respirators based on the available literature and data collected through an online survey completed by Italian dental professionals. Articles were included up to May 2020 and literature searches were conducted through The National Library of Medicine, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Embase databases. The search terms included COVID-19, respirators, masks, and discomfort. An online survey was administered to 256 Italian dentists. The results from this survey were in agreement with the available literature. The findings concurred that the prolonged use of respirators was associated with headaches (47.5%), severe exertion and discomfort (50.8%), moderate concentration problems (54.3%), moderate breathing difficulties (63.5%), and consequently, an impaired work ability (85.5%). These findings were not influenced by the number of hours spent wearing the respirator. Despite several side effects, FFP2 respirators are fundamental in protecting dentists and their importance was acknowledged.

Impact of personal protective equipment use on health care workers’ physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Also, breathing discomfort due to N95 face mask has also been reported in the literature confirming our finding that dyspnoea is a common adverse event among HCWs due to PPE use [52][53][54]. Α survey among dental professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic found that the prolonged use of filtering facepiece 2 (FFP2) respirators was related with moderate breathing difficulties [55]. Moreover, increased levels of anxiety and stress among HCWs during the pandemic [56,57] may contribute to breathing difficulties.…”

“…Moreover, isolation gowns cover the entire body causing heavy sweating and continuous dehydration especially among smokers and obese individuals. A scoping review [55] among dental professionals has revealed moderate breathing difficulties due to the use of filtering facepiece 2 respirators, while the prolonged duration of respirators usage was related with headaches. This finding is confirmed by a study [46] that was conducted during the SARS pandemic and found that 37.3% of HCWs who were N95 face-masks developed headaches.…”

Evaluating the Practice of Preventive Behaviors and the Fear of COVID-19 among Dentists in Oradea Metropolitan Area after the First Wave of Pandemic; a Cross-Sectional Study

“…As we expected, the score for fear of COVID-19 was correlated with the practice of preventive measures, meaning that the higher the score was, the more preventive measures were applied. Even if studies identified that the use of FFP2 masks was associated with headaches (47.5%), severe exertion and discomfort (50.8%), moderate concentration problems (54.3%), moderate breathing difficulties (63.5%), and impaired work ability (85.5%) as Farronato et al [ 41 , 42 ] showed in their studies, protective behaviors were adopted by all dentists and considered fundamental in protecting dentists and their patients.…”

Study on Factors of People’s Wearing Masks Based on Two Online Surveys: Cross-Sectional Evidence from China

“…In countries with cultural norms or government policies supporting public mask-wearing, per-capita coronavirus mortality increased on average by just 16.2% each week, as compared with 61.9% each week in the remaining countries [ 7 ]. For example, many young people are more liberal, and they consider wearing a mask to be a restriction on their freedom and not in line with traditional attitudes [ 8 , 9 ]. Wearing masks is meaningful, but there are still some people who do not wear masks on their daily trips.…”