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Personnel Protective Equipment: Forgotten Protocol, Invigorated by COVID-19

Abstract

Objective:

To make the readers cognizant about the use of Personnel Protective Equipment (PPEs) and infection control practices which should always form a part of basic patient management and not arise with every emerging disease.

Material and Methods:

Authors personal clinical experiences and existing literature were summed up to infer relevant information related specifically to dentistry. A comprehensive review was done for the last 15 years in an attempt to explain the current state of understanding on the topic.

Results:

The authors have tried to compile the most probable reasons as to why PPEs have been a forgotten protocol, which can be enumerated as follows: decreased awareness, financial issues, boredom and lethargy, time constraints, unavailability, carelessness, and burnout due to long procedure and patient feeling discomfort/offended.

Conclusion:

COVID-19 being highly infectious, a dental clinic is a potential and genuine point of source for many new infections, and no confabulation is less to underline the importance of using PPEs during this pandemic or even otherwise.

Keywords:
Coronavirus Infections; Protective Devices; Masks; Patient

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