Elaine Blignaut1, Simon Nemutandani2, Lakshman Samaranayake3. 1. Independent Contractor, Wits Health Consortium, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2. Wits School of Oral Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 3. Dentistry, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus -2 is unceasing, and the consensus is that the dental profession has to co-exist with this vicious foe for the foreseeable future. Dental professionals in resource poor countries, as opposed to those in developed countries, face additional challenges due to the lack of personal protective equipment, and chronic infrastructural impediments extant in such jurisdictions, such as regular and chronic interruptions to electricity and water supplies. OBJECTIVES: To address this new 'normal' which dictates that dentistry has to 'adapt and adopt' in order to deliver care to the needy, particularly in resource poor nations, whilst care deliverers take appropriate precautionary measures to obviate cross infection. METHODS: A review was preformed of the challenges to delivery of infection control measures in dentistry in resource meagre settings, and practical interventional measures proposed to mitigate these challenges, taking South Africa as a case study. RESULTS: In reality, optimal infection control measures cannot be implemented in delivering dental care in resource poor settings, a challenge that has been ill addressed by the relevant authoritative bodies. A re-adaptation of infection control guidelines that could be simply implemented in such settings has been formulated. CONCLUSION: We present practical infection control guidelines to lessen the burden of dental professionals in resource poor countries who dispense treatment under trying circumstance. The strategic infection control measures, including engineering and administrative controls outlined could be applicable in jurisdictions with a diminished capacity to respond to local, regional or national infection control guide-lines, due to financial, regulatory, or other infrastructural resource deficiencies.
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus -2 is unceasing, and the consensus is that the dental profession has to co-exist with this vicious foe for the foreseeable future. Dental professionals in resource poor countries, as opposed to those in developed countries, face additional challenges due to the lack of personal protective equipment, and chronic infrastructural impediments extant in such jurisdictions, such as regular and chronic interruptions to electricity and water supplies. OBJECTIVES: To address this new 'normal' which dictates that dentistry has to 'adapt and adopt' in order to deliver care to the needy, particularly in resource poor nations, whilst care deliverers take appropriate precautionary measures to obviate cross infection. METHODS: A review was preformed of the challenges to delivery of infection control measures in dentistry in resource meagre settings, and practical interventional measures proposed to mitigate these challenges, taking South Africa as a case study. RESULTS: In reality, optimal infection control measures cannot be implemented in delivering dental care in resource poor settings, a challenge that has been ill addressed by the relevant authoritative bodies. A re-adaptation of infection control guidelines that could be simply implemented in such settings has been formulated. CONCLUSION: We present practical infection control guidelines to lessen the burden of dental professionals in resource poor countries who dispense treatment under trying circumstance. The strategic infection control measures, including engineering and administrative controls outlined could be applicable in jurisdictions with a diminished capacity to respond to local, regional or national infection control guide-lines, due to financial, regulatory, or other infrastructural resource deficiencies.
Entities:
Keywords:
Africa; COVID-19; SARS-Cov-2; dentistry; infection control