COVID-19 and dentistry: perspectives of an unfolding pandemic

The dental health profession faces a daunting new challenge with the emergence of a novel viral disease, Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19), a form of atypical pneumonia caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which may also cause multi-system infections. At the time of writing, this highly infectious disease, now an unprecedented, worldwide pandemic, has spread to more than 150 countries, infecting 5.7 million, with over 355,00 deaths. A significant proportion of those affected are unsuspecting healthcare workers, including dentists. The major transmission mode of SARS-CoV2 appears to be through droplet/aerosol spread and related subsidiary modes, such as close contact via virus-infested fomites.

The rapidly evolving pandemic is highly likely to have an enormous impact on the routine practice of dentistry, as well as the behaviour of their close support personnel, not only in terms of the related morbidity and mortality, but also the associated financial outlays entailing practice management. Additionally, the dental community has to be constantly vigilant in the face of new facts and figures that are incessantly emerging. COVID-19 Commentary is an attempt at providing the reader with current perspectives of the research findings that impact the profession. Here are discussed in brief, the different coronavirus infections, their possible origins, and why new viral diseases such as COVID-19 emerge.