access to care C D A J O U R N A L , V O L 4 8 , Nº 1 0
Global Impact of COVID -19 on Service Delivery and Vulnerable Populations’ Access to Dental Care Francisco Ramos-Gomez, DDS, MS, MPH; Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan, MBChD, MBA; Marcela Diaz-Betancourt, DDS, MIPH; Gyanendra Kumar, MDS; Thomas Gerhard Wolf, DDS, Dr med dent Priv-Doz; Margherita Fontana, DDS, PhD; and Guglielmo Campus, DDS, PhD
a b s t r a c t COVID-19 is most commonly spread through aerosol droplets and
contact with infected individuals and contaminated surfaces. The nature of how this virus is spread will affect the practice of dentistry for the foreseeable future. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the global impact of COVID-19 on dental professionals as well as highlight the barriers and challenges of global access to oral health care during the pandemic, especially among vulnerable populations.
AUTHORS Francisco RamosGomez, DDS, MS, MPH, is a professor in the section of pediatric dentistry and director at the UCLA Center for Children’s Oral Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Dentistry.
Marcela DiazBetancourt, DDS, MIPH, is a scientific associate in the department of restorative, preventive and pediatric dentistry at the University of Bern School of Dental Medicine in Bern, Switzerland.
Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan, MBChD, MBA, is a professor of pediatric dentistry at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Gyanendra Kumar, MDS, is an associate professor of pediatric and preventive dentistry at the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences in New Delhi.
Thomas Gerhard Wolf, DDS, Dr med dent, Priv-Doz, is a senior physician in the department of periodontology and operative dentistry at the University Medical Center of the Johannes GutenbergUniversity Mainz in Mainz, Germany. He is also associate professor at the University of Bern School of Dental Medicine in Bern, Switzerland.
Margherita Fontana, DDS, PhD, is the Clifford Nelson endowed professor of dentistry in the department of cariology, restorative sciences and endodontics at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. Guglielmo Campus, DDS, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of surgery, microsurgery and medicine sciences at the University of Sassari School of Dentistry in Sassari, Italy. Conflict of Interest Disclosure for all authors: None reported.
I
n December 2019, a highly infectious respiratory disease started to spread in Wuhan, China, and escalating in the lapse of three months to a pandemic.1 In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that this novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2), was the pathogen causing the COVID-19 disease1 and was a public health emergency of international concern.2 This paper provides an overview of the global perspective of COVID-19 as it relates to the following three oral healthrelated topics: the impact of COVID-19 on oral health care providers and dental practice; how COVID-19 affects access to oral health care services and unmet needs among vulnerable populations; and OC TOBER 2 0 2 0 507
