Management of SARS-CoV-2 Prevention Methods in Dental Offices—A Cross-Sectional Study in Bucharest, Romania

TL;DR

This study examined how dental offices in Bucharest adjusted their infection prevention methods for SARS-CoV-2 before and during the pandemic.

Contribution

The study provides insights into the changes in personal protection equipment and vaccination practices among dentists during the pandemic.

Findings

Dentists increased the use of personal protection equipment like ocular/facial protection and upgraded masks.

Vaccination rates among dentists were 80%, with statistical significance, but patient vaccination status did not affect protocols.

Ocular protection use showed statistical significance by gender but not by age group.

Abstract

We compared the managing of prevention methods for SARS-CoV-2 infections in dental offices before and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to find out the varieties of infection prevention methods used by dentists before and during the pandemic and compare them. We designed a digital transversal questionnaire with 15 closed questions that was sent to 150 dentists in Bucharest, Romania. We received n = 112 valid answers during July-August 2021 from dentists of all age groups (25–60 years), with a sex ratio of 0.36, which agreed to anonymously participate in this study. The results showed an increase in types and amount of personal protection equipment (i.e., ocular/facial protection, supplemental gown, and upgrading the FFP1 masks to FFP2 or FFP3). Ocular protection showed statistical significance by gender but not by age group. Vaccination rate against SARS-CoV-2 was at 80% of the participant dentists at the time of the survey and had statistical significance. However, vaccination status of the patients did not alter dentists’ protection protocol.

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