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COVID-19 case management in primary dental care settings in Yorkshire and the Humber

British Dental Journal (2024)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction Emerging guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic aimed to minimise transmission risk within dental settings. This service evaluation provides an overview of reported cases of COVID-19 among primary dental care staff within Yorkshire and the Humber.

Methods Data for COVID-19 cases reported within dental practices between November 2020 and August 2021 were extracted from the Public Health England, Health Protection Zone database and summarised using descriptive statistics.

Results In total, 421 cases across 223 dental practices were reported, with 221 close contacts and 77 outbreaks identified. Cases/contacts were highest among dental nurses (51/49%). Household and community (42/22%) were the most frequently reported sources of transmission, with the majority of staff-to-staff contacts (60%) occurring in communal/non-clinical areas.

Discussion There was a low number of reported COVID-19 cases/contacts among dental professionals, with most cases suspected to have acquired the infection from outside of the dental setting. The majority of personal protective equipment breaches occurred within communal/non-clinical areas. When infection prevention and control guidance was followed, there were no incidences of staff or patients becoming contacts or cases.

Conclusion With adherence to strict protocols, the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the dental setting was low within the context of this review. The evaluation highlighted the importance of collaborative working during the pandemic.

Key points

  • The regional management of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of collaborative working and system leadership for the delivery of primary dental care services.

  • Most breaches of infection prevention and control guidance occurred in staff communal areas and not within clinical areas or in the vicinity of patients.

  • There was no evidence of COVID-19 transmission within a dental care setting when infection prevention and control guidance was followed, either from staff to staff or staff to patient.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Tracy Wharam (Public Health England) for their kind assistance in providing and curating the data set used in this report.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NHS England North West, Liverpool, UK

    Clare Granger

  2. School of Dentistry, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Joshua A. Twigg

  3. NHS England, North East and Yorkshire, York, UK

    Sandra Whiston & Siobhan M. B. Grant

  4. School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Stefan Serban

Authors
  1. Clare Granger
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  2. Joshua A. Twigg
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  4. Siobhan M. B. Grant
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Contributions

Siobhan M. B. Grant and Sandra Whiston were responsible for the conceptualisation of the paper. Siobhan M. B. Grant, Sandra Whiston, Joshua A. Twigg and Clare Granger were responsible for data extraction and analysis. Stefan Serban provided academic support. Clare Granger and Joshua A. Twigg led the manuscript write-up and revisions, and all authors provided feedback on the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Siobhan M. B. Grant.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

This was a service evaluation; therefore, no ethical approval was required. Consent was not required for retrospective data collection.

Data availability

Data available on request.

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Granger, C., Twigg, J., Whiston, S. et al. COVID-19 case management in primary dental care settings in Yorkshire and the Humber. Br Dent J (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-7298-7

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