Facial Self-Touching and the Propagation of COVID-19: The Role of Gloves in the Dental Practice.

Background: Despite facial self-touching being a possible source of transmission of SARS-Co-V-2 its role in dental practice has not been studied. Factors such as anxiety symptoms or threat perception of COVID-19 may increase the possibility of contagion. The objective was to compare the impact of control measures, such as gloves or signs in the reduction in facial self-touching.

Methods: An intra-subject design was undertaken with 150 adults. The patients' movements in the waiting room were monitored with Microsoft Kinect software on three occasions: without any control measures, using plastic gloves or using advisory signs against self-touching. Additionally, the participants completed the sub-scale of STAI (State-Anxiety) and the BIP-Q5 (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire); their blood pressure and heart rate were recorded.

Results: The lowest incidence of facial self-touching occurred in the experimental situation in which gloves were introduced. The subjects with elevated anxiety symptoms realized more facial self-touching regardless of the control measures. However, the threat perception of COVID-19 is associated negatively with facial self-touching.

Conclusions: The use of gloves is a useful control measure in the reduction in facial touching. However, people with anxiety symptoms regardless of whether they have greater threat perception for COVID-19 exhibit more facial touching.