Evaluation of the Measures Taken in the Private Dental Practice during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Turkey

Objectives: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), previously known as 2019 novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), emerged in December 2019 and causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). Due to the nature of the dental practice, most treatment procedures produce significant amounts of droplets and aerosols that pose infection risks. Aim of this study to evaluate the precaution measures taken by Turkish dentists during dental procedures to avoid Covid-19 infection pandemic and their attitudes against the pandemic.

Methods: The survey form of the study was prepared in Google surveys (Alphabet, Mountain View, KA, USA) and consists of 32 questions. The survey was shared to dentists working in private practice in Turkey between July 22 – August 10, 2020.

Results: Seven hundred seventy seven dentists aged between 23-73 years were included in the study. Of the 770 dentists, 124 dentists were with chronic disease and 53 of these dentists limited their practice to only emergency dental treatments, 45 dentists stopped their practice and 26 dentists continued working as usual after 10 March when the first COVİD 19 case was detected. The most common date range for dentists (25.7%) stopping and (31.8%) restricting their work is between April 9 – April 22. Two hundred and ten (27.3%) dentists received training on Covid-19.

Conclusions: The most important challenges dentists in Turkey faced in this period can be listed as, the necessary protective equipment is expensive and the difficulty of transportation of equipment. The results of study showed that dentists must improve the measures and get more training on Covid-19 pandemic.