Safe Protocol of Resuming Routine Dental Procedures in a Tertiary Care Hospital Setting Post COVID-19 Lockdown

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected dentistry. Dental procedures are considered one of the modes of transfer of COVID-19 infection due to generation of aerosols. To prevent transmission of this virus through dental procedures, guidelines were issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ministry of Health of each country. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to establish a safe protocol for performing dental procedures in a crisis capacity situation of personal protective equipment (PPE). METHODS: A strategy for performing the dental procedures was formulated in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health, Pakistan before vaccination of HCPs against COVID-19. These guidelines also accorded the strategies provided by the WHO and CDC. 40 health care professionals (HCPs) participated in the study and were divided in two groups. Group A performed non-aerosol generating procedures (non- AGPs) and group B performed aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). A total of 6372 aerosol generating procedures were performed from 1 August 2020 to 31 March 2021. The safety of this protocol was established by the number of HCPs contracting COVID-19 infection. RESULTS: Only 1 HCP contracted COVID-19 infection preceding the AGPs from group B following the formulated strategy. CONCLUSION: Reported strategy based on the dental system in Pakistan is considered safe to be implemented worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.