The Covid-19 virus has surrounded the whole world and affected our social lives, forcing us to stay at home. In order to prevent the spread of the virus, it is of great importance to stay at home, paying attention to our personal hygiene. Reducing our contact with all kinds of health institutions from which we receive health services due to the risk of infection; It is very important for ourselves, our family, our relatives and healthcare professionals. For this reason, should we postpone our dental treatments these days? Should we go to health institutions in emergency situations? What can we do at home if we have a toothache?
Dentists are in close contact with patients due to the treatments performed. It is contaminated with patients' saliva, blood and oral fluids, and 'aerosols' that are dispersed and suspended in the air as a result of the use of rotating instruments during dental treatments are spread into the environment. Meanwhile, if the physician, patient and allied health personnel have an infectious disease, they can transmit the infectious agent to each other and even to the next patient, causing cross-infection. Therefore, if we have an infectious disease and especially these days with coronavirus symptoms; If we have symptoms such as fever, dry cough and fatigue and have traveled abroad in the last 2 weeks or have been in close contact with someone who has, we should not apply to dental clinics. It is necessary to consult dentists only in case of emergency.
According to the decision taken by the Turkish Dental Association (TDB), emergencies in dentistry are as follows;
Pain (severe tooth pain that does not go away originating from the nerve pulp tissue of the tooth). pain, abscesses or bacterial infections that cause swelling, painful ulcerations in the mouth area, pain and injuries caused by orthodontic wire and bracket breakage, pain caused by pericoronitis or wisdom teeth, inflammation of the extraction socket (dry socket), denture bruises)
Trauma (tooth fractures, complete tooth dislocation, fractures in the jaw and face area)
Life-threatening emergencies (bleeding, intraoral or extraoral infections that threaten the patient's airway)
Patients with medical problems (radiotherapy, chemotherapy, organ transplant patients)
With previous surgery Removal of facial stitches
Treatment of temporary restoration fractures and losses.
We can list what we can do at home during this process as follows; To maintain optimum oral and dental health by brushing our teeth twice a day, using dental floss, interdental brushes and mouthwashes. If we have unfinished dental treatments, we should avoid consuming sticky and hard foods that will break and damage our temporary teeth and fillings. If we think that your complaints are truly urgent, be sure to contact your dentist and follow his recommendations and instructions strictly.
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