COVID-19 knowledge and adherence of dental practitioners to health authority safety guidelines during a pandemic

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the degree of dental practitioner adherence to recommendations made during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method and materials: An online questionnaire was distributed via social media among dental practitioners in Israel who worked during the COVID-19 outbreak. Results: In total, 144 dental practitioners completed the survey; it was found that dental practitioner adherence to all the official PPE use recommendations was 69.8%, whereas 36.8% of dental practitioners reported the use of N95 when needed. Knowledge of self-protection against COVID-19 was rated as "very good"by 37.5% of responders. However, only 25.7% felt "highly protected"by personal protective equipment. Interestingly, many dental practitioners (46.8%) reported adherence to extra protection in addition to the required PPE communicated by the Ministry of Health guidelines. Conclusion: Stricter regimens should be applied for dealing with the current challenging pandemic, especially in clinical work with a higher risk for viral transmission. Specific strategies should be followed to ensure good practice to improve dental practitioners' and patients' safety.