Oral Health & Its Effect on COVID 19: Systematic Review & Meta Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: The world has faced the pandemic of COVID-19 in the march of 2020 and still it continues to effect in 2021. Hence in the present study we aim to evaluate the Oral Health & its effect on COVID 19 as a Systematic Review & Meta Analysis.

Material and Methods: Online data was collected from the search engines of EBSCO, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopus.The searched terms were COVID 19, CORONA, SARS-CoV-2, clinical features, Wuhan, etc. The study articles were collected that from Jan 2020 to Feb 2021. Based on the PRISMA guidelines the meta analysis was performed.

Results: The final systematic review included 13 studies. Infection control is a theme that was discussed extensively in the literature and remains the main theme of many of the Covid-19 articles on dentistry. Telephone triage using questionnaire to evaluate potential risk of SARS-Cov-2 and type of dental care was implement in the following studies. Three studies recommended that patients coming for elective treatments with temperature > 100.4 F or 38 C should be postponed, if possible or performed in an Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) or negative pressure rooms. The guidelines to establish real need of emergency dental treatment was recommended in the following studies. Importance of hand hygiene, limiting number of patients in the waiting room/operatory, removal of shared objects, proper ventilation and social distancing was highly recommended.

Conclusion: The biggest concern will remain the aerosol generating nature of dental work. More research is required on aerosol’s specific risk assessment and measures that can protect the dental work force and patients from aerosol and droplet infection. The economic and psychological aspect of Covid-19 pandemic also need special attention as the pandemic is taking a tool of mental health of large segments of the population in these unprecedented and stressful times.