4th grade student, Faculty of Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
Department of General Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
Dent Med Probl. 2021 Oct-Dec;58(4):539-544. doi: 10.17219/dmp/137758.
This article describes what changes have had to be made to the functioning of dental practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the pandemic has affected dental staff. Dentists are at high risk of infection and this is associated with fear, including the fear of being infected by their co-workers and patients, or that they will infect their families. The introduced changes include increased protective measures, and the introduction of additional questionnaires and procedures. In dental practices, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been increased and changes have been introduced in the functioning of surgeries in accordance with the recommendations of dental associations and governments. The aforementioned changes have significantly reduced the comfort of dental work, increased the costs of treatment and reduced the availability of dental treatment. A novel solution to this situation has been the implementation of teledentistry, which helps to reduce the number of non-emergency visits. This process involves the remote facilitation of dental treatment by means of technology (i.e., phone or the Internet) without direct contact with the patient. Due to the restrictions implemented during the pandemic, many universities have introduced remote or hybrid teaching for both didactic and practical classes.
本文介绍了由于 COVID-19 大流行，牙科诊所的运作不得不做出哪些改变，以及大流行如何影响牙科工作人员。牙医感染的风险很高，这与恐惧有关，包括担心被同事和患者感染，或担心他们会感染家人。引入的变化包括增加保护措施，并引入额外的问卷和程序。在牙科诊所，个人防护设备（PPE）的使用有所增加，并根据牙科协会和政府的建议对手术的运作进行了更改。上述变化大大降低了牙科工作的舒适度，增加了治疗成本，并减少了牙科治疗的可及性。解决这种情况的一个新方法是实施远程牙科，这有助于减少非紧急就诊的次数。这一过程涉及通过技术（即电话或互联网）远程协助牙科治疗，而无需与患者直接接触。由于大流行期间实施的限制，许多大学都为理论和实践课程引入了远程或混合教学。
