The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have developed preparedness and prevention checklists for healthcare professionals regarding the containment of COVID-19. The aim of the present protocol is to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak among dentists in different countries where various prevalence of the epidemic has been reported. Several research groups around the world were contacted by the central management team. The online anonymous survey will be conducted on a convenience sample of dentists working both in national health systems and in private or public clinics. In each country/area, a high (~5–20%) proportion of dentists working there will be invited to participate. The questionnaire, developed and standardized previously in Italy, has four domains: (1) personal data; (2) symptoms/signs relative to COVID-19; (3) working conditions and PPE (personal protective equipment) adopted after the infection’s outbreak; (4) knowledge and self-perceived risk of infection. The methodology of this international survey will include translation, pilot testing, and semantic adjustment of the questionnaire. The data will be entered on an Excel spreadsheet and quality checked. Completely anonymous data analyses will be performed by the central management team. This survey will give an insight into the dental profession during COVID-19 pandemic globally.

Background: Understanding of socioeconomic context might enable more efficient evidence‐based preventive strategies in oral health.Aim: The study assessed the caries‐related socioeconomic macro‐factors in 12‐year‐olds across European countries.Design: This systematic review involved epidemiological surveys on the caries status of 12‐year‐olds from 2011 to 2022. DMFT was analyzed in relation to gross national income (GNI), United Nations Statistical Division geographical categorization of European countries (M49), unemployment rate, Human Development Index (HDI), and per capita expenditure on dental health care. A meta‐analysis was performed for countries reporting data on DMFT, stratified by GNI, and geographical location of European countries, using a random‐effects model.Results: The study involved 493 360 children from 36 countries in the geographic region of Europe. The analysis confirmed a strong negative correlation between income and caries experience (p < .01). Children living in higher‐income countries showed 90% lower odds of poor oral health than in middle‐income countries. Children living in West Europe showed 90% lower odds of poor oral health than children living in East Europe.Conclusion: The strong effect of macro‐level socioeconomic contexts on children's oral health suggests favoring upstream preventive oral health strategies in countries with economic growth difficulties, Eastern and Southern parts of Europe.

Introduction: Serbia has universal health coverage (UHC) for pediatric dental care and similar country distribution for dentists and physicians per 1,000 inhabitants. However, a high prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) with wide variation across the country was observed in previous studies. This paper aimed to analyze the association between economic and healthcare country macro-level factors with ECC prevalence and treatment. Method: The outcome variables were ECC prevalence and frequency of untreated ECC in 36- to 71-month-olds. Cross-sectional pathfinder survey on a nationally representative sample of children was conducted in order to obtain data. Independent variables included the following: gross domestic product (GDP), social and health care budget beneficiaries' expenditures, local self-government budget, unemployment rate, population density and density of physicians and dentists. Guided by the WHO's Basic Methods for Oral Health Surveys stratified cluster sample, 17 sites were randomly chosen to obtain adequate distribution of data regarding urban, peri-urban and rural areas in each analyzed statistical territorial unit. The variables were analyzed using the independent t-test or Mann–Whitney U test. A probability value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The final sample included 864 children aged 36 to 71 months. Observed prevalence of ECC was 41.1%. Although no statistically significant difference was found, children with ECC compared to healthy children were living in parts of the country with averages of ≈122€ lower GDP per capita, ≈4€ lower social and health care expenditures per capita, 9 inhabitants per km² lower population density, almost 7€ per capita lower local self-government budget and a 0.6% higher unemployment rate. Furthermore, although without a statistically significant difference, untreated ECC was associated with ≈302€ lower GDP per capita, ≈12€ lower social and health care expenditures per capita, 34 inhabitants per km² lower population density, almost 20€ per capita lower local self-government budget and a 1.7% higher unemployment rate. Conclusions: This study, performed in a nationally representative sample of preschool children, revealed the association of economic macro-level factors with ECC prevalence and its (non-) treatment. Further research on a larger sample is necessary to confirm the results. These findings suggest that most of the public-health efforts regarding prevention and early treatment of ECC should be directed at regions with lower economic performance.

Dental academic institutions are affected by COVID-19. We assessed the perceived COVID-19 preparedness of these institutions and the characteristics of institutions with greater perceived preparedness. An international cross-sectional survey of dental academics was conducted from March to August 2020 to assess academics’ and institutional attributes, perceived preparedness, and availability of infection prevention and control (IPC) equipment. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified perceived preparedness components. Multilevel linear regression analysis assessed the association between perceived preparedness and fixed effect factors (academics’ and institutions’ attributes) with countries as random effect variable. Of the 1820 dental academics from 28 countries, 78.4% worked in public institutions and 75.2% reported temporary closure. PCA showed five components: clinic apparel, measures before and after patient care, institutional policies, and availability of IPC equipment. Significantly less perceived preparedness was reported in lower-middle income (LMICs) (B = −1.31, p = 0.006) and upper-middle income (UMICs) (B = −0.98, p = 0.02) countries than in high-income countries (HICs), in teaching only (B = −0.55, p < 0.0001) and in research only (B = −1.22, p = 0.003) than teaching and research institutions and in institutions receiving ≤100 patients daily than those receiving >100 patients (B = −0.38, p < 0.0001). More perceived preparedness was reported by academics with administrative roles (B = 0.59, p < 0.0001). Academics from low-income countries (LICs) and LMICs reported less availability of clinic apparel, IPC equipment, measures before patient care, and institutional policies but more measures during patient care. There was greater perceived preparedness in HICs and institutions with greater involvement in teaching, research, and patient care.

Aim. The aim of this study was to analyze the outcomes and factors associated with after-hours dental trauma. Methods. Study sample consisted of 1762 permanent teeth injuries in children, gender and age matched with office-hours injuries. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected from 4 university dental trauma centers. Results. During median follow-up time of 4.3 years, complications have occurred in 14.5% of injured teeth. Age, type, and degree of tissue injury and after-hours time of injury were significantly associated with complications. Unfavorable outcomes were 34% more likely in the after-hours group compared with office-hours. Urgent treatment was significantly delayed in after-hours group with a delay of more than 3 hours in 90.5% versus 38.9% in the office-hours group. Multivariate regression model showed that after-hours time of injury was significant predictor of complications. Conclusion. Delayed urgent treatment was one of the main factors associated with unfavorable outcome of after-hours injuries.