**1. Introduction**

The novel coronavirus 2019 is a member of the Coronaviridae family. In fact, this single-stranded RNA virus, whose natural habitat is animals, was reported to be transmittable from animals to humans. The disease caused by this virus, known as SARS-CoV-2, was named Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) because it was first detected in 2019 [1–4]. This virus can involve the liver and the intestinal, respiratory and nervous systems, as well as causing major damage to the lungs in severe cases, and it may also lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death [5]. The disease originated in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei province of China due to consumption of animals contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Later, it spread around the world, causing millions of people to become ill and

many of them to die. The pandemic caused by the virus changed the social life of all humanity and forced all health groups, including dental treatment providers, professionally [6–9].

All people in the world are susceptible to COVID-19. However, older people (≥55 years), those with comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart disease, chronic lung disease, malignancy and kidney disease and smokers are more susceptible to COVID-19 disease in comparison to the young and healthy population [5, 9–13]. Additionally, in a study, it was found that COVID-19 had a more severe course in those with poor oral and dental health in conjunction with immune system deficiency [14]. Healthcare professionals come first in terms of the risk of exposure to the virus. Among them, the risk of those working on the oral cavity was found to be higher [15–18]. If this risk is compared to the work done by other healthcare professionals, it is thought to be close to that of staff in laboratories where the virus is directly analyzed, or the bodily fluids of COVID-19 patients are studied. The role and risks of laboratory medicine in times of epidemics of infectious diseases are already well-known [19, 20].

Therefore, in this section, we will first discuss the possible relationships between dental and oral health and the course of COVID-19. Then, we will discuss the precautions that dental providers should take while working and the issues they should pay attention to.
