Doaa Adel-Khattab¹, Amira Mohammad Samy² Doaa Adel-Khattab¹, Amira Mohammad Samy², Marwa Emam³ and Robert A Horowitz⁴*

¹Department of Oral Medicine, Periodontology and Diagnosis, Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
²Department of Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Badr University, Cairo, Egypt
³Oral Surgery, Periodontology and Implant Dentistry, The NYU College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA

*Corresponding Author: Robert A Horowitz, Clinical Assistant Professor, Oral Surgery, Periodontology and Implant Dentistry, The NYU College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA.

Received: November 22, 2021; Published: January 06, 2022

Abstract

Background: Despite the convenience of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Dental Association (ADA) and WHO guidelines and recommendations, some dentists and dental assistants may have a lack of knowledge of the requirements of COVID-19 control. This is may be due to the high flow rate of patients in some public and private clinics with reduced dental fees. This cross sectional evaluated awareness level, perception and attitude regarding COVID-19 among Egyptian dentists.

Methods: The study population was dentists who worked in universities, private clinics, hospitals and health centers in Egypt. An online questionnaire composed of 35 questions sent to a sample of Egyptian dentists between April and May 2020. The questionnaire was comprised of a series of questions about dentists’ demographic characteristics, their awareness of COVID-19, infection control measures needed to limit the infection and spread of COVID-19.

Results: 413 dentists participated in this study, 232 females and 181 males, one third of the participants were general dentists and around half of the participants had a private practice. 31.8% of the participants took the information about COVID-19 from social media and 26% read CDC and ADA guidelines. Almost all, 96% of the dentists answered the symptoms that COVID-19 infection presents with a dry cough and fever with 2-14 days is the incubation period. Half of the participants considered COVID-19 an airborne infection. Relative to that, 1-3 meters is the optimum social distancing, and human behavior only can influence COVID-19 infection spread. During this time period, 86% of dentists worked only emergencies cases, 72% considered dental emergency as the combined symptoms of swelling, trauma and severe pain, 84% of the participants considered disposable gown, eye protection, N95/ KN 95 mask and gloves as effective personnel protective equipment during dental treatment.

Conclusions: Egyptian dentists were aware of COVID-19 symptoms, mode of transmission, infection control, and protective measures in dental clinics.

Keywords: COVID-19; Infection Control; Dental Practice; Survey Research

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Citation

Citation: Robert A Horowitz., et al. “Dentists’ Perception and Awareness Towards COVID-19 and Infection Control: Cross-sectional Study Among a Sample of Egyptian Dentists”. Acta Scientific Dental Sciences 6.2 (2022): 03-11.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 K Robert A Horowitz., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.