A scoping review of knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practices of dental professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Document Type : Review Article(s)

Authors

1 Dentofacial Deformities Research Center, Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Dental Research Center, Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Dental Research Center, Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Community Oral Health Department, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Prosthodontics, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a respiratory disease identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and it has become one of the century›s most significant public health concerns. Dentists are among the most exposed medical professionals to the risk of COVID-19 infection, and they must modify their routine clinical attitudes and behaviors. This study sought to assess the current status of dental professionals› knowledge, attitudes, and practices, as well as their adherence to COVID-19 pandemic guidelines.
Methods: A scoping review protocol was developed by searching scientific papers in EBSCO, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus electronic databases using “COVID-19” and “Dentistry” as key search terms to find relevant papers published until March 13, 2021. Two authors reviewed the potentially relevant articles in full. All cross-sectional or cohort studies that evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, or practices of dentists through questionnaires were selected for the review.
Results: The search strategy led to the identification of a total of 405 articles which were subsequently assessed for eligibility. By application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, the obtained results were further reduced to 25 citations. The results were organized into the following categories: knowledge (transmission, signs and symptoms, incubation period, etc), attitudes (protective measurements, occupational risk of infection), and practices (protective measurements, personal protective equipment, current status of dental treatments, etc).
Conclusion: The research study came to the conclusion that the majority of dentists have sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 infection and comprehend the significance of performing only emergency procedures and delaying elective procedures. Moreover, most of them believed that more awareness programs on COVID-19 prevention are needed for both the dental fraternity and the public.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Duruk G, Gümüşboğa Z, Çolak C. Investigation of Turkish dentists’ clinical attitudes and behaviors towards the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey study. Braz Oral Res. 2020;34:e054. doi: 10.1590/1807-3107bor-2020.vol34.0054.
  2. Consolo U, Bellini P, Bencivenni D, Iani C, Checchi V. Epidemiological aspects and psychological reactions to COVID-19 of dental practitioners in the Northern Italy districts of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(10):3459. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17103459.
  3. Russell B, Moss C, Rigg A, Hopkins C, Papa S, Van Hemelrijck M. Anosmia and ageusia are emerging as symptoms in patients with COVID-19: what does the current evidence say? Ecancermedicalscience. 2020;14:ed98. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2020.ed98.
  4. Peng X, Xu X, Li Y, Cheng L, Zhou X, Ren B. Transmission routes of 2019-nCoV and controls in dental practice. Int J Oral Sci. 2020;12(1):9. doi: 10.1038/s41368-020-0075-9.
  5. Lo Giudice R. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) in dentistry. Management of biological risk in dental practice. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):3067. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17093067.
  6. World Health Organization (WHO). Questions and Answers on Coronaviruses. WHO; 2020.
  7. Sezgin GP, Şirinoğlu Çapan B. Assessment of dentists’ awareness and knowledge levels on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Braz Oral Res. 2020;34:e112. doi: 10.1590/1807-3107bor-2020.vol34.0112.
  8. Gamio L. The Workers Who Face the Greatest Coronavirus Risk. New York Times; 2020.
  9. Campus G, Diaz-Betancourt M, Cagetti MG, Carvalho JC, Carvalho TS, Cortés-Martinicorena JF, et al. Study protocol for an online questionnaire survey on symptoms/signs, protective measures, level of awareness and perception regarding COVID-19 outbreak among dentists. A global survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(15):5598. doi: 10.3390/ ijerph17155598.
  10. Mijiritsky E, Hamama-Raz Y, Liu F, Datarkar AN, Mangani L, Caplan J, et al. Subjective overload and psychological distress among dentists during COVID-19. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(14):5074. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17145074.
  11. Chamorro-Petronacci C, Carreras-Presas CM, Sanz-Marchena A, Rodríguez-Fernández MA, Suárez-Quintanilla JM, Rivas- Mundiña B, et al. Assessment of the economic and healthcare impact of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) on public and private dental surgeries in Spain: a pilot study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(14):5139. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17145139.
  12. Schwendicke F, Krois J, Gomez J. Impact of SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) on dental practices: Economic analysis. J Dent. 2020;99:103387. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2020.103387.
  13. Quadri MFA, Jafer MA, Alqahtani AS, Al Mutahar SAB, Odabi NI, Daghriri AA, et al. Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) awareness among the dental interns, dental auxiliaries and dental specialists in Saudi Arabia: a nationwide study. J Infect Public Health. 2020;13(6):856-64. doi: 10.1016/j. jiph.2020.05.010.
  14. Bizzoca ME, Campisi G, Lo Muzio L. COVID-19 pandemic: what changes for dentists and oral medicine experts? A narrative review and novel approaches to infection containment. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(11):3793. doi: 10.3390/ ijerph17113793.
  15. Estrich CG, Mikkelsen M, Morrissey R, Geisinger ML, Ioannidou E, Vujicic M, et al. Estimating COVID-19 prevalence and infection control practices among US dentists. J Am Dent Assoc. 2020;151(11):815-24. doi: 10.1016/j. adaj.2020.09.005.
  16. Mustafa RM, Alshali RZ, Bukhary DM. Dentists’ knowledge, attitudes, and awareness of infection control measures during COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(23):9016. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17239016.
  17. Qadah T. Knowledge and attitude among healthcare workers towards COVID-19: a cross sectional study from Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. J Infect Dev Ctries. 2020;14(10):1090-7. doi: 10.3855/jidc.13083.
  18. Aly MM, Elchaghaby MA. Impact of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Egyptian dentists’ fear and dental practice (a cross-sectional survey). BDJ Open. 2020;6:19. doi: 10.1038/ s41405-020-00047-0.
  19. Nasser Z, Fares Y, Daoud R, Abou-Abbas L. Assessment of knowledge and practice of dentists towards coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a cross-sectional survey from Lebanon. BMC Oral Health. 2020;20(1):281. doi: 10.1186/s12903- 020-01273-6.
  20. Putrino A, Raso M, Magazzino C, Galluccio G. Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy: knowledge, management of patients and clinical experience of Italian dentists during the spread of contagion. Res Sq [Preprint]. 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-20328/v3.
  21. Gambhir RS, Dhaliwal JS, Aggarwal A, Anana S, Anana V, Bhangu AK. COVID-19: a survey on knowledge, awareness and hygiene practices among dental health professionals in an Indian scenario. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig. 2020;71(2):223-9. doi: 10.32394/rpzh.2020.0115.
  22. Widyarman AS, Bachtiar EW, Theodorea CF, Rizal MI, Roeslan MO, Djamil MS, et al. COVID-19 awareness among dental professionals in Indonesia. Front Med (Lausanne). 2020;7:589759. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.589759.
  23. Sarfaraz S, Shabbir J, Mudasser MA, Khurshid Z, Al-Quraini AAA, Abbasi MS, et al. Knowledge and attitude of dental practitioners related to disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare (Basel). 2020;8(3):232. doi: 10.3390/healthcare8030232.
  24. Rajeh M. COVID-19 and infection control in dental clinics; assessment of public knowledge, attitudes and practices in several regions of Saudi Arabia. Open Dent J. 2020;14(1):489-97. doi: 10.2174/1874210602014010489.
  25. Teja KV, Vasundhara KV. Knowledge, awareness, and practice of dentists in preventing-novel coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission-a questionnaire based cross-sectional survey. Braz Dent Sci. 2020;23(2):1-9. doi: 10.14295/bds.2020. v23i2.2287.
  26. Peedikayil FC, Kottayi S, Ismail S. Attitude and response of Indian dentists about corona (COVID‑19) infection. Dent Med Res. 2020;8(2):59-64. doi: 10.4103/dmr.dmr_8_20.
  27. Cagetti MG, Cairoli JL, Senna A, Campus G. COVID-19 outbreak in North Italy: an overview on dentistry. a questionnaire survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(11):3835. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17113835.
  28. Bontà G, Campus G, Cagetti MG. COVID-19 pandemic and dental hygienists in Italy: a questionnaire survey. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020;20(1):994. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05842-x.
  29. Sah MK, Singh A, Sangroula RK. Knowledge of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among dental surgeons of Nepal: a nationwide study. BMC Infect Dis. 2020;20(1):871. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05620-4.
  30. Tysiąc-Miśta M, Dziedzic A. The attitudes and professional approaches of dental practitioners during the COVID-19 outbreak in Poland: a cross-sectional survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(13):4703. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17134703.
  31. Ahmadi H, Ebrahimi A, Ghorbani F. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dental practice in Iran: a questionnaire-based report. BMC Oral Health. 2020;20(1):354. doi: 10.1186/s12903-020-01341-x.
  32. Almas K, Khan AS, Tabassum A, Nazir MA, Afaq A, Majeed A. Knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practices of dental professionals during COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. Eur J Dent. 2020;14(S 01):S63-S9. doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1718785.
  33. Bakaeen LG, Masri R, AlTarawneh S, Garcia LT, AlHadidi A, Khamis AH, et al. Dentists’ knowledge, attitudes, and professional behavior toward the COVID-19 pandemic: a multisite survey of dentists’ perspectives. J Am Dent Assoc. 2021;152(1):16-24. doi: 10.1016/j.adaj.2020.09.022.
  34. Izzetti R, Gennai S, Nisi M, Barone A, Giuca MR, Gabriele M, et al. A perspective on dental activity during COVID-19: the Italian survey. Oral Dis. 2021;27(Suppl 3):694-702. doi: 10.1111/odi.13606.
  35. Kinariwala N, Samaranayake LP, Perera I, Patel Z. Concerns and fears of Indian dentists on professional practice during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Oral Dis. 2021;27(Suppl 3):730-2. doi: 10.1111/odi.13459.
  36. Eftekhar Ashtiani R, Tehrani S, Revilla-León M, Zandinejad A. Reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission in dental offices: a review. J Prosthodont. 2020;29(9):739-45. doi: 10.1111/jopr.13261.
  37. Long RH, Ward TD, Pruett ME, Coleman JF, Plaisance MC Jr. Modifications of emergency dental clinic protocols to combat COVID-19 transmission. Spec Care Dentist. 2020;40(3):219-26. doi: 10.1111/scd.12472.
  38. Checchi V, Bellini P, Bencivenni D, Consolo U. COVID-19 dentistry-related aspects: a literature overview. Int Dent J. 2021;71(1):21-6. doi: 10.1111/idj.12601.
Journal of Oral Health and Oral Epidemiology
Volume 12, Issue 2
July 2023
Pages 48-58

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 06 July 2021
  • Revise Date: 15 October 2021
  • Accept Date: 03 January 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics