COVID – 19 Transmission and Controls in Dental Practice

With reference to your esteemed journal, I would like to draw the attention of readers towards an important issue i.e. COVID – 19 transmission and controls in dental practice. COVID- 19 was diagnosed and identified in three patients suffering from pneumonia and other severe symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Till now many countries had sustained and exposed to COVID -19 through local transmission and unfortunately the victims are constantly increasing throughout the globe including Pakistan.2
Most of the corona patients and carriers came in Pakistan directly from China, Europe, Italy, and Iran. In which some patients were aware of their illness and many were not. Dentists are at the highest risk of exposure to COVID – 19. As a dentist, they had direct exposure to the
blood and saliva. Splashes during various dental procedures may lead to direct inoculation of the viral genome on the dentist and dental assistant’s body and surrounding area.
Infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are of critical importance in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic protecting the functioning of dental care services and mitigating the impact on vulnerable populations.3 Therefore it is recommended that general and special precautionary measures should be opted to minimize the chances of contamination to the dentist, dental personnel, and operatory
with COVID-19. Government of Pakistan has formulated special guidelines for providing dental care services during COVID- 19. This detailed document enlighten the possible transmission routes and preventive measures during dental practices. The web link is provided for further assistance. http://covid.gov.pk

REFERENCES

1. Han X, Wang J, Zhang M, Wang X. Using Social Media to Mine and Analyze Public Opinion Related to COVID-19 in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17:2788. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082788
2. Raj K, Rohit AG, Singh S. Coronavirus as silent killer: recent advancement to pathogenesis, therapeutic strategy and future perspectives. VirusDisease. 2020:1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13337-020-00580-4
3. Luo H, Tang QL, Shang YX, Liang SB, Yang M, Robinson N, Liu JP. Can Chinese medicine be used for prevention of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? A review of historical classics, research evidence and current prevention programs. Chinese journal of
   integrative medicine. 2020:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-020-3192-6

1. Head of Department and Associate Professor, Department Of Oral Pathology, Karachi Medical and Dental College.
2. Karachi Medical and Dental College.
   Corresponding author: “Dr. Mehwash Kashif” < mehwashkashif@gmail.com >