Measuring COVID-19 incidence rates among Canadian dentists

By Rachel Boutet

Throughout the pandemic, there has been much debate about whether or not dental care settings carry a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association aimed to address the risk among dentists with evidence-based information.

The study, led by assistant professor Sreenath Madathil of McGill University, aimed to estimate COVID-19 incidence rates among Canadian dentists over a six-month period. Professor Carlos Quiñonez 0T9 PhD, who is also graduate program director of Dental Public Health for the Faculty, and professor Michael Glogauer 9T3, 9T9 Dip Perio, 9T9 PhD, who is also dentist-in-chief at University Health Network, were also authors of this study.

“When we started this study in July of 2020, there was so much unknown about COVID-19,” says Glogauer. “There were no vaccines and it was unclear how much of a risk dentists were actually at in terms of this virus. We wanted to get a good assessment of how much risk there actually was.”

The study looked at 644 licensed dentists across Canada from July 29, 2020 to February 12, 2021 and collected self-reported infection every four weeks along with saliva samples to test for infection as well. The results suggest that there does not appear to be a higher risk of COVID-19 infection among Canadian dentists compared to the general population.

“I wasn’t really surprised by these results because similar data has also been published in a study of American dentists, and in Canada, we are taking even more precautions,” says Quiñonez. “What’s interesting is there appears to be a slightly higher rate of infection in European jurisdictions, so something is different, we just aren’t sure exactly what yet. What we’re trying to determine is what is the actual nature of the risk and why would we see this differentiation in different parts of the world.”

Glogauer notes that dentistry has always been well-known to use measures that will protect the public, patients, dental office staff, and the profession from these sorts of outbreaks. 

"This study further shows the safety of dental care"

“We have a rapid ability to upgrade PPE and have undertaken many other measures to protect all of these groups,” he says. “This study further shows the safety of dental care. The profession’s ability to adapt quickly is shown in this study and the data is there that we remain a very safe profession.”

Quiñonez echoes these thoughts, referencing a whole host of reasons for the low infection rate observed in this study, including the increased PPE, other dental office precautions, and that dentists could also be using extra caution outside of work.

“We don’t have all the explanations other than to say that dentists aren’t getting COVID-19,” he says. “This is a quick peek under the hood meaning there is a lot going on. We are adding to the evidence base here in Canada which is suggesting that COVID-19 infection risk is potentially not high or is at least controlled by what’s going on in dental offices, which is good news.”

Glogauer says this is a good time to ask if the current measures are appropriate or overly stringent.

“We can use the results as a starting point to determine what measures are actually necessary to continue to ensure the safety of the public, patients, office staff, and dentists.”

A similar study is being conducted on the COVID-19 infection rate amongst Canadian dental hygienists. 

Photo: Dentist in PPE (Jeff Comber)