An Awareness Survey on the Prevention of Covid-19 Infection at the Orthodontic Office

Abstract

BACKGROUND Covid-19 pandemic has created a havoc all over the world. In the view of orthodontists, the lockdown has brought financial, emotional, and professional restrain. In order to restart the practice, we need to have a sound knowledge on the guidelines issued by the authorities. We wanted to assess the knowledge of SARS - CoV-2 infection, its impact on orthodontists and their understanding of the sanitation protocols in this study. METHODS 500 orthodontic practitioners and postgraduates who reside in India participated in the study through an online questionnaire. Intergroup comparison was made among postgraduates (PG), private practitioners (PP), both in private practice and academic institutions (PA). RESULTS 500 forms were completed and returned. The results were categorized into 3 sections - Knowledge on SARS-CoV-2, impact of Covid-19 on orthodontic practice and sanitation of the operatory. The study revealed the awareness of the infection among orthodontists at various levels of practice and their attentiveness in following Covid-19 protocol. CONCLUSIONS Orthodontic practitioners are very much aware of the seriousness of Covid-19 infection, method of spread, and its impact and sanitation protocols. Academic practitioners are more informed about the gravity of Covid-19 infection while private practitioners are robust in maintaining the sanitation standards of their operatories. KEY WORDS Orthodontist, Covid-19, Sanitation, Practitioner