**5. Oral and dental healthcare practices for the COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey**

With the first cases in Turkey at the beginning of March 2020, the Turkish Ministry of Health, Coronavirus Science Board members took urgent measures in accordance with the available recommendations of international organizations, 'guidelines for working in health institutions and Infection Control Measures' were published, and individuals were instructed to comply with these guidelines and measures [55]. Accordingly, during the pandemic, it was recommended to intervene in emergency cases and avoid aerosol-producing procedures in dental practices. According to this guide, emergency and compulsory services in dental practices are defined. These are summarized below:


In the normalization period, it was reported that planning was made by giving priority to emergency and compulsory services to manage the patient density that may occur in all institutions providing oral and dental health services.

The Turkish Ministry of Health was one of the best among the health departments of countries in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the measures it took, the rules it set and its supply of healthcare materials. Furthermore, more positive results were obtained thanks to the cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). These practices encouraged all healthcare professionals, including dental healthcare professionals, to ensure the smooth continuation of healthcare services, except for minor problems. In this context, dentists were also included among healthcare professionals who directly combat COVID-19. They contributed significantly to the fight against this disease by participating in contact-tracing teams and working in the job of taking a throat and nose swab for PCR tests. The effective factors that enabled dentists to offer this contribution were provision of adequate protective equipment as well as the knowledge and skills provided by training programs. According to a study conducted by Tokuc and Coskunses [56], dentists in Turkey reporting that they have significant knowledge and skills about COVID-19 and its clinical symptoms are the proof of this. However, the opposite case was reported in a similar study conducted in Pakistan [ 57].
