Fight against covid-19: An orthodontist's perspective

The pandemic of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is having an extreme impact on all aspects of our lives. For the first time in the history of mankind, we are facing a global public health issue of this dimension with its severe impact on global economy, travel, governance, education etc. Despite ‘Lockdown’ or ‘shelter in place’ advisories issued by governments of various countries the spread of the virus continues unabated. This zoonotic infection, like the earlier recognised coronavirus infections, is understood to have its inception in bats and pangolins and later jumping to humans. On entering the human body, the virus (SARS-CoV-2) shows an affinity for the upper respiratory region and can be easily traced in the nasopharyngeal and salivary secretions of affected patients, and its spread is predominantly thought to be respiratory droplet/contact in nature. As the world responds to this crisis with behaviour modifications like social distancing, lockdowns, and quarantine of suspected cases, healthcare providers are at the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus. We dentists are particularly vulnerable to transmissible diseases by way of droplet transmission both due to the area of work and the type of instrumentation. The long and unpredictable incubation periods of the virus in COVID-19 patients expose us to the risk of treating asymptomatic patients. Thus, the aim of this article is to provide a basic understanding of the contagiousness of this infection, the precautions and strategies to deal with orthodontic emergencies in the dental clinic.