Experience of patients diagnosed as asymptomatic COVID-19 after dental treatment

Ju Yeon Seo, Sung Tak Lee, So Young Choi, Jin Wook Kim, Tae Geon Kwon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: The potential risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission from asymptomatic COVID-19 patients is a concern in dental practice. However, the impact of this risk is not well documented to date. This report describes our dental clinical experience with patients who did not exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 but were later confirmed as positive for COVID-19. Case presentation: Of the 149,149 patients who visited the outpatient clinic of KNUDH and the 3291 patients who visited the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic of KNUH, 3 were later confirmed as having COVID-1 between 1 February 2020 and 28 February 2021. Owing to close contact with these patients during their treatments, 46 dental and medical staff had to undergo quarantine from the date of the patients’ confirmation of COVID-19 infection. Conclusion: The presented cases showed the potential existence of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients after dental treatment with aerosol-generating procedures. Clinicians should be aware of the infection prevention measures and try to protect healthcare personnel from secondary infection of COVID-19 during dental treatments.

Original languageEnglish
Article number30
JournalMaxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Volume43
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021

Keywords

  • Asymptomatic
  • COVID-19
  • Dental treatment
  • Personal protective equipment
  • SARS-CoV-2

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