Latvian dentists' treatment decision for caries treatment during COVID-19 pandemic period

To explore whether Latvian dentists are ready to introduce minimally invasive caries treatment methods in daily practice and whether this decision could be related to recommendations or restrictions of dental services during COVID-19. Descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were collected using a previously validated online and printed survey with questions about demographic data; 2) determination of the dentist's profile by previously used and adapted questions; 3) reAdīness of dentists to apply non-invasive and minimally invasive caries treatment methods (NMCTM). Data collection was performed between August-October 2020. The minimum sample size was 174 (~10% active dentists in Latvia). All data processing, cleaning and analysis has been performed in the R statistical program. The study was performed as a part of the project VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011. We received 373 complete questionnaires (response rate for online questionnaires were 21.6% and 56.2% for printed questionnaires) from dentists who had graduated between 1973-2020 comprised from 92.5% general dentists and 92.2% female 13.9% had a NMCTM profile. For permanent dentition, and under restrictions of aerosol-generating methods or recommendation not to use them, dentists would prefer selective carious tissue removal and glass-ionomer fillings (75.4%), followed by non-restorative caries treatment (67.5%), sealants (42.4%) and traditional fillings (39.1%). For primary dentition, 23.3% would choose Hall-crowns. Most Latvian dentists are aware of minimally invasive techniques for caries control and are willing to use them to minimize the generation of aerosols associated with the risk of viral infection. This would allow dental care to be maintained during periods of pandemic.