Andrés Melián Rivas; Matthias Wallach Weinstein; Camila Boin Bakit & Rolando Carrasco Soto
Summary
The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the latest pathology of international concern. Originating in Wuhan, China, it spread rapidly worldwide, which is why it was declared a public health emergency. Its main symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, general discomfort, and anosmia, which has been recently incorporated. However, multiple asymptomatic cases have also been described that have alarmed the general population. This disease is characterized by its high contagion rate and its propagation mechanism is close contact between people and through bodily fluids such as saliva and airway secretions. Health personnel are especially vulnerable to infection due to their high exposure to patients' oronasal secretions, especially those medical and dental specialties whose field of action focuses on these areas, oral and maxillofacial surgery being one of them, having a high risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, it is essential for these personnel to follow infection prevention and control protocols, together with a correct anamnesis, examination, and diagnosis of patients, which allows prioritizing surgical care, reducing the spread of the virus. The objective of this review is to know the basic recommendations for patient prioritization and care in surgical procedures by the maxillofacial surgery team during the COVID-19 pandemic.
KEY WORDS: COVID-19; Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Surgery, SARS CoV-2.
How to cite this article
MELIÁN, R. A.; WALLACH, W. M.; BOIN, B. C. & CARRASCO, S. R. Recommendations in the care of patients in maxillofacial surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2). Int. J. Odontostomat., 14(4):474-480, 2020.