RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON THE PREVALENCE OF ORAL SYMPTOMS IN THE SPECIFIC MANIFESTATIONS OF PATHOLOGY CAUSED BY SARS- CoV-2 VIRUS

The aim of this study is to retrospectively analyze the prevalence of oral pathology in the range of symptoms characteristic of the clinical picture caused by the SARS-CoV- 2 virus. The study was carried out on 779 patients with COVID-19, hospitalized between September 2020 and April 2021 in CF Hospital from Iasi, Romania. The sample's structure on genders was almost perfectly equilibrated (49.6% men and 50.4% women), with age spread within all age ranges, between 7 and 93 years; around a half of patients were adults between 40-59 years old (45.6% men and 49.4% women). The percentage of asymptomatic patients is significantly higher among those afebrile ( 27.7%) compared to febrile ones (6.1%). Among the afebrile, 65.2% have 1-4 symptoms, compared to 87.7% of the febrile, and 7.1% have 59 symptoms, compared to 6.1% of the febrile. We noticed increased incidences of oral symptoms in patients with aggravated condition (febrile) by comparison with the others, in most cases - with only one exception, gum bleeding, which is slightly more frequent in case of afebrile / sub febrile patients (59.2% cases compared with 55.1% cases of febrile patients). Oral signs including dysgeusia, xerostomia, oral mucosal lesions and periodontal pathology could be associated with SARS-CoV- 2 infection or equally could be considered secondary lesions of COVID19 infection, which are extremely useful elements in the early diagnosis of people with COVID19.