Oral health of elderly during the corona virus pandemic: review article

Background and Aims: Due to the prevalence of corona virus and restrictions on access to health care in the community, there are clearly many concerns and problems for the lives of people, especially the elderly. Older people are at higher risk for this type of virus than the other ages. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of dental services for the elderly during the corona outbreak and to provide solutions related to oral health of the elderly during the corona virus pandemic. Materials and Methods: The present review study was performed and the selected keywords were: coronavirus and dentistry, dentistry and the elderly, corona and the elderly. Articles were selected based on findings and related texts. English language articles were selected using Google Scholar, Science direct, PubMed and Research Gate search engines. Sources were reviewed between January 2019 and October 2020. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 15 articles were reviewed. Results: Research findings showed that most studies have pointed to the importance of mobile and tele-dentistry. In a coronary pandemic, it is very important to correctly diagnose the patient's problems and determine the best type of treatment for the elderly. In addition, the elderly should be prevented from entering the unnecessary dental treatments. Conclusion: Many elderly people avoid the treatment of oral diseases during coronavirus pandemic due to fear of coronavirus, high dental costs, lack of access to appropriate services, and this causes irreparable problems in their health. Therefore, it is recommended to provide practical solutions to facilitate the dental treatment of elderly patients.