Impact of COVID-19 on ongoing & ensuing dental research

• Published in: Journal of dentistry 2021-03, Vol.106, p.103590-103590, Article 103590
• Main Authors: Sardana, Divesh, Yiu, Cynthia K.Y., McGrath, Colman P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols; Clinical laboratory techniques; Clinical trial; Clinical trials; Contingency; Contingency plans; Coronavirus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 diagnostic tests; Data collection; Dental care; Dental Research; Dentistry; Dentists; Disease transmission; Funding; Grants; Guidelines; Health care; Health Personnel; Humans; Infections; Kindergarten; Laboratory animals; Medical research; Organizations; Pandemics; Research methodology; Researchers; SARS-CoV-2; Short Communication; Shutdowns; Social distancing; Vaccines
• ISSN: 0300-5712; 1879-176X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdent.2021.103590

The current global COVID-19 pandemic has almost marked its one year of existence and influenced everyone either at an individual or community level. There are plenty of clinical recommendations and guidelines for the practitioners, and beyond doubt, the treating clinicians and other healthcare providers who have been in the frontline of this battle might have been significantly affected as a direct consequence of this pandemic. However, most of the clinical recommendations and guidelines are pivoted on intense research, and thus it is entirely reasonable to foretell that if dental research is impacted, the care-providers and consequently the patients will inevitably be affected. The present paper attempts to narratively summarize the potential disruptions on dental research due to the pandemic and endeavours to forewarn the dental researchers and scientific communities about the impact of COVID-19 on ongoing and ensuing dental research in the coming years. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected laboratory and clinical research globally and will probably change the course of individuals and organizations engaged in dental research for some time. Tailor-made contingency plans by the individuals and organizations and sustaining the momentum of dental research by maintaining the flexibility in administration and utilization of research grants, extensions of grants and funding deadlines, adaption of study designs and procedures, pause or delay enrolment of participants, innovation in research collaborations and scholarly communications across different fields are some of the suggested measures that can be utilized to minimize the disruption during this pandemic.