Coronavirus is a disease that causes the severe acute respiratory syndrome. It started in Wuhan in 2019 and a few months later the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled the virus spread across the globe as a pandemic. The risk assessment according to the WHO for COVID-19 is very high, with a global impact. As of April 12, 2020, there were 1,696,588 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 105,952 deaths, reported by the WHO (1).
To date, all countries which have suffered from the COVID-19, have taken measures, as stated by health authorities, to prevent further spread of the virus and to ensure infection control. Some of these strategies are including the provision of virus tests, extreme social isolation, localized quarantines, and the monitoring of the most vulnerable populations; the measures taken are largely guided by the official WHO website based on the number of cases in each country (2).
With the first Coronavirus case in North Cyprus, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) government took more strict measures than other countries because Cyprus is an island. Because of uncertainty about the ways of virus spread, the appropriate modes of treatment, insufficient availability of health services, and no existing vaccine or efficient drug for treatment all entrances and exits to the island by sea, air, and land were closed and the country is lockdown (3).
A filiation team was formed in TRNC to prevent the spread of the disease. The filiation team uses the contact tracking algorithm published by the Republic of Turkey (TR) and TRNC health ministries. They identify people at high and low COVID-19 risk below the criteria:
With a COVID-19 patient without taking protective measures (without mask or wearing a mask inappropriate use) persons are at high risk in the following situations:
» People who face and talk to a COVID-19 patient at a distance of less than 1 meter for 15 minutes at a time
» Persons providing direct care to a COVID-19 patient,
» Students sharing a classroom with a student/teacher with COVID-19 and teachers,
» People who come into physical contact with a COVID-19 patient (kissing, hugs, etc.)
» People who unprotected contact with secretions (saliva, sputum, etc.) of a COVID-19 patient such as sneezing-coughing
» People who in the same closed environment with a COVID-19 patient (hospital or bank standby halls, title deed, tax office, those waiting in official institutions such as municipality, bus, shuttle, etc. persons with means of transport),
» Passengers who are traveling on the same plane with a COVID-19 patient (sitting two fronts, two back, and two side seats)
» People living in the same house with a COVID-19 patient,
» People who work in the same office with a COVID-19 patient,
» Persons sharing the same room with a COVID-19 patient in a dormitory or hotel,
» People traveling on the same bus with a COVID-19 patient
The main duty of the filiation team is to call the covid positive person and/or their close contacts. Close contact, in this case, would mean anybody, who had been in contact with the positive person within the last 48 hours from being tested positive (4).
The filiation team called the people they considered close contacts by phone and placed them in dorms, hotels, or leave them home. To be able to stay in home quarantine, people had to either live alone at home or have rooms for themselves at home, and they had to have bathrooms and toilets in the room. Otherwise, people were randomly placed in dorms and hotels. In these centers, patients were kept isolated until two negative PCR results were obtained. This period lasted an average of 7 to 21 days.
Bruxism is characterized by clenching and/or grinding of teeth and /or by bracing or thrusting of the jaw muscles. There are 2 different types of bruxism; sleep and awake. Awake bruxism is the form that is seen during the waking period and is usually conscious of the person. Sleep bruxism occurs while the person is sleeping. In sleep bruxism, patients either complain of pain in their jaw when they wake up in the morning or are observed by a relative to clench their teeth during the night. While the diagnosis of bruxism obtained by asking questions to the person gives us the possible diagnosis, a dentist's examination is essential for a definitive diagnosis (5–8).
Many studies have shown that one of the most important reasons for bruxism is psychosocial stress. The quarantine process has caused many changes in people's social lives, which has affected the habit of bruxism (3, 5, 6, 9–12). During the quarantine period, people have different problems such as; losing their job, decreased income level, starting to have marital problems, being away from their children, thinking that their health will the study aimed to deteriorate, getting bad news from social media, immobility, deterioration of their appearance (weight gain, hair growth, hair dye coming in, etc.), being dissatisfied with their stay, not being social, learning that they have lost their relative or been hospitalized during their stay in. They experienced varied emotional states like worried, scared, in a panic, hopeless and calm in their life (2, 9, 13).
With this research, which is conducted for the first time in TRNC, we aim to evaluate the bruxism habits of people who were in contact due to the COVID-19 pandemic and remain in quarantine while they are asleep and awake, and the effect of the difference in the quarantine environment on bruxism.