Infection Control in the Dental Office in the Era of COVID-19

This book discusses the treatment of dental patients in the post-COVID pandemic years and the required compliance with recommended infection control practices to ensure the safe delivery of oral health care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had the most dramatic impact on healthcare, inclusive of dentistry, in history. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a very dynamic virus and each new variant appears to be more transmissible than previous variants. More effective infection control strategies had to be developed to prevent transmission of COVID-19 in the dental office.

Readers will find guidance on the reduction of aerosol in the dental office, information on vaccines, vaccinations and the re-emergence of vaccine preventable diseases. Infection control during implant placement, oral surgical procedures, N2O administration and IV sedation is explained. In addition to SARS-CoV-2, the book provides information on other emerging respiratory diseases such as Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and the emergence of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Polio, HPV) that present significant risk of transmission if proper infection control practices are not followed. The indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed including a significant increase of STDs (syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, HPV), new blood- borne infections such as HIV, HBV and HCV infections, as well as a significant increase of healthcare acquired infections and superbugs.