Dental practice management during COVID-19 times-Now and beyond

Abstract

Aim: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) being declared a global public health emergency has become a significant challenge for all healthcare workers, including dentistry, recognised as a high-risk profession during these times. This consensus statement aims to highlight and provide guidelines necessary to be implemented for a clinical dental practice.

Materials and methods: A total of nine conservative Dentists and Endodontists and one Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon; with four panelists from government dental colleges, one each from the North, South, East and West India and six resource persons from private colleges in South India, all of them being clinicians and administrators practicing dentistry since the inception of the pandemic, collaborated in this consensus statement. The consensus statement was developed through a symposium conducted on the topics; general dental practice during COVID-19 times, the importance of aerosols in clinical dental practice in the spread of COVID-19, effective standard operating protocols for clinical dental practice and Institutional settings with scientific evidence-based justifications, followed by a panel discussion with to devise mandatory protocols to be followed in clinical and institutional settings. The symposium was attended by 46 practitioners who participated in the deliberation.

Results: This consensus statement provides clinicians and researchers with protocols for the dental practice, agreed upon by experts in the field. The Consensus Statement has been formulated according to the AGREE Reporting checklist for the formulation of guidelines.

Conclusion: The experts and panelists reached a Consensus on the protocols and guidelines for the safe clinical and institutional dental practice.