Dentistry During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Integrative Review and Proposed Protocol for the Rio de Janeiro State Military Police Dental Care Units

Abstract

Objective: to collate the literature that contains recommendations, best practices, and infection control measures for dental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic and, based on this evidence, to propose a protocol for use at the Rio de Janeiro State Military Police dental health care units. Materials and Methods: search of the regional VHL Network Portal, Web of Science, and Pubmed databases using the search query (“covid19” AND “dentistry”) to retrieve studies published in 2019 and 2020. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 18 were found to be eligible for the review. Results: from the scientific evidence reported in the retrieved documents, an infection control protocol was proposed for use at the Rio de Janeiro State Military Police dental care units, which could be applied to any dental health setting. Conclusion: while the epidemic continues, only urgent and emergency dental care should be provided. The dental surgeon should adopt enhanced biosecurity measures, namely: rigorous hand sanitizing with soap and water and/or 70% alcohol hand sanitizer; correct use of complete personal protective equipment (PPE), and discarding of PPE after each patient; allowing three hours to elapse between patients after aerosol-generating procedures; cleaning of all surfaces with 0.1% sodium hypochlorite or 70% ethanol; sterilization of all instruments; and adequate disposal of all waste.