Cases of dental clinic visits by COVID-19-confirmed patients.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to review cases of dental visits by patients who had confirmed COVID-19 infection in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. It analyses the patterns of infection transmission among dental healthcare professionals and dental clinic visitors. METHODS: This study obtained data from reports on disease trends and press releases published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) on its COVID-19 website. RESULTS: After examining cases of patients with a confirmed COVID-19 infection, 24 people (10 in Seoul and 14 in Gyeonggi-do) visited the dental office 1-13 days prior to their case confirmation; however, the spread of the virus in the dental office was not confirmed. CONCLUSION: The WHO and KCDC guidelines must be followed to curb transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus among dental patients and professionals.

Changes in dental hygiene students' working posture following digital sound feedback.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to observe changes in working posture by measuring the REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) score of dental hygiene students according to digital sound feedback linked with a smartphone application. METHODS: This study was conducted on 28 fourth-year dental hygiene students who received theoretical and practical training on dental posture in the second year and then practised on mannequins and patients for about four semesters. Periodontal instrumentation was performed freely by applying digital sound notification feedback for four weeks after baseline, 30 minutes per week. REBA was measured after performing periodic structure construction without providing digital sound notification feedback for the last 1-2 minutes. Follow-up was conducted the same way 2-3 weeks after the intervention period. RESULTS: The REBA score for total, neck and trunk of all subjects showed statistically significant decreases post-intervention compared with the baseline scores (total p < .001, neck p < .001 and trunk p = .042). CONCLUSIONS: A digital sound feedback system was shown to be effective in encouraging correct working posture in dental hygiene students by helping them improve their REBA scores.