Exercise of dental practice in primary health care during coping with COVID-19: narrative literature review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus Disease 2019 - COVID-19, whose etiological agent is the SARS-CoV-2 virus, promoted global alert in 2020. In this context, in Brazil, the health sector, especially Primary Health Care (PHC), has been imbued with adaptations with a view to containing the disease. Among the professional actions in this scenario, dentistry stands out as a participant of the multiprofessional team in the fight against COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: to present narrative review of the literature about the practice of dental in PHC in face of COVID-19. METHODS: This is a literature review, whose search was made through the retrospective analysis of government regulations/protocols on the subject, as well as through the electronic databases Pubmed/MEDLINE, Scielo, Wiley Online Library and LILACS. The descriptors previously consulted in MeSH were: "dentistry"; "oral health"; "public health"; primary health care; COVID-19". It should be noted that the studies were selected from the titles and abstracts, later read in full, and those that met the eligibility criteria were considered. LITERATURE REVIEW: To understand the working process of the dentist, the epidemiological aspects, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 were understood, as well as the admission of the risk character of dentistry for this health context. For this purpose, it was also considered the legitimacy of PHC as a potency in containing the expansion of the current pandemic. CONCLUSION: Changes were suggested to the exercise of dental practice in the face of the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, further research will be needed to ascertain their impact on population care.