Endodontic management during COVID- 19 pandemic: A literature review and clinical recommendations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned to be a huge international challenge. Being the part of dental care, we hold responsibilities both to the dental staff and our patients so that the cross infection of virus can be avoided. Since dentists mainly have to work inside the oral cavity, the whole dental team, staff and the technician are at the highest risk of getting affected by the virus. Not only they are at risk of getting infected but at the same time they can potentially transmit the virus. According to latest studies, the presence of virus in salivary secretion of many symptomatic as well as asymptomatic patients, the dental professionals especially Endodontist are at the greatest life threatening situation if they do not follow proper guidelines such as sterilization at their workplace. Till today no medicine manufacturing companies have come up with the proper treatment or vaccines which can protect dentist from contracting with the virus. In this pandemic situation, the general practicing dentist and the Endodontist must provide only emergency treatments so as to relieve pressure and pain. As this COVID continues, it is the responsibility of health care workers to come up with more definitive treatment plans that to stick on to just palliative care. This article aims to bring latest updates on treatment considerations in clinical practice in general. However, the article also includes the guidelines to be followed by the endodontist so as to limit the cross infection but at the same time relieve patient from dental pain or any dental disease.

Provision of Endodontic Treatment in Dentistry amid COVID‐19: A Systematic Review and Clinical Recommendations

“…Dentists being working in close proximity with the patients' oral cavities are at greater risk of acquiring this infection [3] which directly affects their physical and psychological health [4][5][6][7]. The three most common routes of transmission of this virus are direct transmission (coughing or sneezing), contact transmission (trans-mission through mouth and eyes), and transmission through aerosols [8]. The oral cavity could be one of the first sites of coronavirus entry, as it is attached directly to the angiotensin-converting enzyme-(ACE-) 2 receptor present in a tongue, the floor of the mouth, saliva, and other parts of the oral cavity [9][10][11].…”