Dentist Related Factors Associated with Implementation of COVID-19 Protective Measures: A National Survey

Little is known about the extent to which dentists have implemented COVID-19 infection control guidelines and the factors influencing this process in daily practice. This national online survey assessed the implementation of enhanced infection control guidelines in daily practice, and explored dentist related factors influencing their application, more specifically dentist infection status and their perceived risk of cross-infection in the dental setting. The survey was validated, pretested and carried out in 2020. A total of 1436 dentists participated, of whom 9.1% presumably had COVID-19 infection experience. At least 75% of dentists complied with the core part of the recommended protective measures protocol. For each patient treated during the pandemic, an additional cost of 10-30 EUR (86.7%) and an extra time of 10-30 min (70.7%) was estimated. A stepwise binary logistic regression analysis revealed that dentists assumed to have experienced COVID-19 reported a higher self-perceived risk of virus acquisition (beta = 2.090; p = 0.011), lower concern of getting infected (beta = 0.576; p = 0.027), and lower confidence in being able to prevent disease transmission in the dental setting (beta = 0.535; p = 0.022). Some parts of the protective measures were more difficult to apply than others; however, there was no indication of increased disease acquisition in the dental setting.