Going to work in oral healthcare can make a lot of us anxious these days. The global pandemic is still evolving and there are still many unknowns about the behavior of the COVID-19 virus. Dental health providers are directly in the line of fire, with close proximity to patients and aerosols from common procedures. So…
Much has been uncovered regarding the risk factors for contracting Covid-19 and for being harshly effected by its symptoms. Yet, little is known regarding any protective factors that could possibly improve outcomes once the virus is contracted. It has been shown that vitamin D protects against acute respiratory tract infections. Calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3) plays an important role in the expression…
According to OSHA, dental health care providers have one of the highest risks of being exposed to Covid-19. This is mainly due to the fact that a large proportion of the procedures that dentists perform are aerosol generating. These droplets can easily transmit covid-19 from person to person, directly or indirectly – by interacting with…
At this point, everyone on Earth (except maybe Sweden) is itching for the Covid-19 lockdown to be over. Over the past few days, the glimmer of hope has come from the idea of antibody testing and point-of-care testing. More than 20 biotech companies, such as Premier Biotech, have scaled up production of “antibody testing” and…
The Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE-2) has been at the center of uncovering the pathogenesis of Covid-19. ACE-2 decreases the production of angiotensin II in the body. Angiotensin II is a vasoconstrictor, and logically angiotensin receptor blockers are a commonly used anti-hypertensive medication. In addition to being pro-hypertensive, angiotensin II induces many immune responses in…
As we write this piece, Covid-19 as a virus and our understanding of it, is at its infancy. The first case has been hypothesized to be transmitted somewhere in the third week of November 2019. Since then, our evaluation, confirmation, and distribution of scientific findings regarding the virus has lagged behind the spread of the…
The Covid-19 pandemic has mobilized the global scientific community. New discoveries about the characteristics and management strategies of the covid-19 disease are being uncovered by the hour. Here we cover the current accepted knowledge by the scientific community. Covid-19 was initially recognized by the global community in December of 2019, however it’s believed that its…
As more information is uncovered about the Covid-19 virus, methods of diagnosis leading to prevention are uncovered as well. Since it’s initial detection, Covid-19 has been observed in the saliva of infected individuals. This leads to the potential of a convenient, non-invasive and cost-effective diagnosis strategy. Current Testing Shortly after it’s initial detection, the Chinese…
Until now it has been observed that younger patients, especially children are only mildly affected by Covid-19. As the scientific community continues to try and understand this virus, understanding the variety and severity of the symptoms is a critical first step. To date, the Korean medical community and the Korean Center for Disease Control and…