COVID-19 Outbreak in North Italy: An Overview on Dentistry. A Questionnaire Survey

Maria Grazia Cagetti, Jean Louis Cairoli, Andrea Senna and Guglielmo Campus
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Maria Grazia Cagetti: Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Science, University of Milan, Via Beldiletto 1, I-20142 Milan, Italy
Jean Louis Cairoli: Private Practitioner, President of the Lombardy Chamber of Dentists, Varese, Italy
Andrea Senna: Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Science, University of Milan, Via Beldiletto 1, I-20142 Milan, Italy
Guglielmo Campus: Department of Surgery, Microsurgery and Medicine Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, I-07100 Sassari, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: This survey assessed the symptoms/signs, protective measures, awareness, and perception levels regarding COVID-19 among dentists in Lombardy, Italy. Moreover, an analysis of the answers gathered in areas with different prevalence of the disease was carried out. All Lombardy’s dentists were sent an online ad hoc questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into four domains: personal data, precautionary measures (before patient arrival; in the waiting room; in the operating room), awareness, and perception. Three thousand five hundred ninety-nine questionnaires were analyzed. Five hundred two (14.43%) participants had suffered one or more symptoms referable to COVID-19. Thirty-one subjects were positive to the virus SARS-CoV-2 and 16 subjects developed the disease. Only a small number of dentists ( n = 72, 2.00%) were confident of avoiding infection; dentists working in low COVID-19 prevalence areas were more confident than those working in the Milan area and high prevalence area (61.24%, 61.23%, and 64.29%, p < 0.01 respectively). The level of awareness was statistically significantly higher ( p < 0.01) in the Milan area (71.82%) than in the other areas. This survey demonstrated that dentists in the COVID-19 highest prevalence area, albeit reported to have more symptoms/signs than the rest of the sample, were the ones who adopted several precautionary measures less frequently and were the more confident of avoiding infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; infection; dentist; protective measures; awareness; infection control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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