Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34191900›Full record

ReviewInfectious diseases in clinical practice (Baltimore, Md.)2021

Infection Risk of COVID-19 in Dentistry Remains Unknown: A Preliminary Systematic Review.

Michael Levit, Leah Levit

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Infectious diseases in clinical practice (Baltimore, Md.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Evaluation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on dentistry.Clinical and experimental dental research · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Michael LevitDepartment of Prosthodontics, Hebrew University Hadassah School of Dental Medicine.
Leah LevitResearch Fund of the Hadassah Medical Organization, Jerusalem, Israel.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

COVID-19 is a novel viral respiratory disease caused by a member of the coronavirus family, SARS-CoV-2, and has been declared as a pandemic on March 2020. Dental practitioners are routinely exposed to infectious bodily excretions, for example, saliva, blood, and respiratory excretions. Therefore, they are in the first line of SARS-CoV-2 infection-prone health care providers. The purposes of the current review are to trace documented cases of COVID-19 transmission inside dental settings worldwide and to explore the clinical management of these cases.

methodsWe searched MEDLINE and Google Scholar for all possible reported cases of COVID-19 transmission in dental practice as of December 1, 2019, until May 13, 2020. Multiple terms and combinations were used, including "coronavirus," "COVID-19," "SARS-CoV-2," "dental," "dentistry," "transmission," and "nosocomial." Articles that were not written in English were excluded.

resultsA total of 78 articles were found from December 29, 2019, until May 13, 2020. Of these, 31 articles discussed the risks related to dental practice and recommended infection management protocols for dental health care personnel. Of these articles, only 1 had reported data on transmission of COVID-19 in dental practice. Two possible transmissions of COVID-19 to dental personnel were reported in China before its recognition as an epidemic.

conclusionsAlthough it seems that there are almost no reported cases of infection by SARS-CoV-2 during dental treatments, occupational or nosocomial transmission could not be ruled out. Hence, further prospective assessment of COVID-19 transmission is urgently required, and careful and protective measurements are necessary to avoid infection during dental practice.

Indexed as

community dentistryepidemiologyinfection controloccupational dentistrypandemicsvirology

Identifiers

PMID34191900
PMCPMC7968962

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.