COVID-19: the impact on oral health care

The COVID-19 pandemic has high-lighted the economic, social, and oral care health inequities in societies, especially in the developing world. Severe restrictions have been imposed on dental practices, limiting prophylactic and rou-tine oral care health, allowing treatment only for emergencies. Since dental care includes procedures that generate aerosols, the risk of infection for dental personnel has increased significantly. In this review, a comprehensive and updated source of information about SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and the impacts it is having on oral health care is presented. The ongoing repercussions in den-tal practice and in dental education, including the opportunities for practice innovation that are evolving, are also indicated. Also, a discussion of the psychosocial factors that affect health and the quality of life of an individual, such as stress, de-pression, and anxiety, is provided. This pandemic may be an opportunity to promote the inclusion of well-established prevention measures, together with the use of teledentistry in academic dental curricula, encourage the implementation of new perspectives for the effective instruction and in-teractions with students, and foster the transition toward e-learning strategies in dental education.