What’s new for the clinician– summaries of recently published papers

Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic continues throughout the world, dental professionals have been focusing on the oral signs and symptoms associated with the infection. Published studies have shown that almost 4 in 10 COVID patients experience impaired taste or total loss of taste, and an even greater proportion report having a dry mouth. Other oral manifestations include ulcer, erosion, bulla, vesicle, pustule, fissured or depapillated tongue, macule, papule, plaque, pigmentation, halitosis, whitish areas, haemorrhagic crust, necrosis, petechiae, swelling, erythema, and spontaneous bleeding.1 Periodontal disease is considered a pandemic in its own right, with the reported case load far exceeding that of COVID-19. There are several hypotheses that have pointed towards the possibility of a link between periodontal disease and COVID-19.1 Detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) further gives credence to this theory and introduces the possibility of another point of entr