Anxiety of Dental Professionals during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an enveloped RNA virus with a size of ~350 kilobase-pair and COVID-19 is commonly transmitted via aerosols, saliva, nasal droplets, and surface contact which causes severe acute respiratory tract infection among infected humans, and recently many cases declared with severe blood clotting. The average incubation period ranges from 4 to 14 days. The infected person usually presents fever accompanying an upper respiratory tract infection (RTI) and complaints of dry cough, and dyspnea. It is highly recommended to keep any suspected individuals in quarantine (isolation). After its first emergence in Wuhan, China in 2019 and then intercontinental spread it was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. The pandemic of COVID-19 deeply affected the whole world and healthcare workers as front liners are most at risk among professional groups. Dentistry is among the riskiest occupational groups that include all direct and indirect ways of COVID-19 spread. In this process, the dentists who experienced the effects of COVID-19 in the working conditions, economy, and social fields were psychologically negatively affected, and their anxiety, fear, and stress levels increased. In this review, we discuss the increased risk of the spread of coronavirus during dental operative procedures and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the anxiety level, depression, and mental health of dental professionals.