COVID 19 AND DENTISTRY

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) effectively shut down approximately 1,98,000 active dentists and dental specialists in the USA. As individual states authorize the resumption of routine dental care,4 discussion has centered on how to provide safe oral healthcare, care that has been defined in a previous primer, given the nature of the virus and how easily it may be dispersed during common dental procedures. However, the time has come to look beyond treating urgent dental care needs and start planning for resumption of routine dental care and finding creative ways to care for dental patients who are reluctant to come to the dental office for the foreseeable future. This will be a challenging task given the uncertainty surrounding the timeline for resolution of this pandemic.