Currently, there is no report or information on the positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the orthodontic patient population. As such, there is a potential risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from patients to orthodontic providers in orthodontic practices. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 viral loads are similar to adults when they have symptoms related to COVID-19 at early stages. Reports showed that children or adolescents frequently exhibited no symptoms despite being infected with SARS-CoV-2. In orthodontic practices, most patients are children and adolescents. The asymptomatic/presymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 makes the disease highly transmissible, and it is challenging to prevent its transmission. Transmission of COVID-19 can occur during symptomatic, presymptomatic, and asymptomatic periods. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.Īs of May 20, 2022, 82,820,565 cases of COVID-19, including 998,512 deaths, have been reported in the United States. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.ĭata Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.įunding: PA received Biomedical Research Award from the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation and National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
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Received: MaAccepted: JPublished: June 23, 2022
PLoS ONE 17(6):Įditor: Sompop Bencharit, Virginia Commonwealth University, UNITED STATES (2022) Positivity rates of SAR-CoV-2 infection in orthodontic patients at the orthodontic clinic, University of Illinois Chicago.
A potential risk of COVID-19 transmission from patients to orthodontic providers remains, even with asymptomatic and vaccinated patients.Ĭitation: Atsawasuwan P, Del Campo DM, Del Campo LM, Viana G, Ravindran S, Allareddy V, et al. An increased frequency of positive cases at the orthodontic clinic was observed during the time of high positivity rate in Chicago and Cook County. Among all positive participants, three participants had received complete COVID-19 vaccination. All of the positive participants were asymptomatic, and two of the participants had a history of COVID-19 infection. During the study, the average COVID-19 positivity rate at the UIC orthodontic clinic was 0.626%. Among all participants, nine participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (5 males and 4 females).
One thousand four hundred and thirty-seven orthodontic patients aged 6 to 70 years old (41.8% males and 58.2% females) participated in the study. The COVID-19 positivity rates of Chicago, Cook County of Illinois, and the orthodontic clinic at UIC were compared. All participants’ age, sex, history of COVID-19 infection, and vaccination status were recorded. Three milliliters of saliva from the participants were collected in the sample collection tubes and subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assay to detect SAR-CoV-2. All orthodontic patients who sought treatment at the UIC orthodontic clinic from June 16 to October 31, 2021, were invited to participate in the study. This study aims to compare the positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in orthodontic patients at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) orthodontic clinic to the positivity rate of the local population in Chicago. There is no information regarding the potential transmission risks in the orthodontic community. COVID-19 has impacted and increased risks for healthcare providers, including orthodontists.
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