Oral Cavity Correlations, Periodontitis and COVID-19

Dear Colleagues,

The clinical situation induced by Sars-CoV-2 in various target organs has been extensively studied and described. Long COVID syndrome is widely analyzed in the literature, and guidelines have been produced by the world's leading scientific institutions.

Scientific evidence concerning the oral cavity is relatively insufficient, but involvement in COVID-19 pathology is established. Moreover, a significant proportion of patients following a SARS-CoV-2 infection may present with persistent symptoms in the oral cavity.

Specifically, the cells comprising the oral cavity express the viral entry receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, which allows replication and can cause inflammation and tissue destruction.

Furthermore, elevated levels of pro-inflammatory mediators in patients with COVID-19 and oral infectious disease may impair tissue homeostasis and cause delayed disease resolution. This suggests the potential crosstalk of immune-mediated pathways underlying pathogenesis.

This mechanism led to the thought that given the similarity of the pathways, periodontal disease was also related to severe forms of COVID-19; in fact, numerous studies have come out on the subject. Other oral pathologies in the literature have been associated with COVID-19, such as involvement of the salivary glands, certain lesions in the gingival mucosa and gums, lichenoid lesions, pemphigoid lesions, herpetic-like lesions, carious pathology and neuro-sensorial problems in the head and neck region. In addition, similar sequelae have been described in the literature with the introduction of SARS-COV-2 vaccines.

This Special Issue aims to gather as much material as possible to clarify which manifestations of COVID-19 disease in the oral cavity are most frequent, which forms are associated with LONG-COVID, and how vaccines against the disease can also lead to consequences in the oral cavity.

Dr. Giulia Tetè
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• COVID-19
• oral pathologies
• aphthous
• gingivostomatitis, manifestation
• oral disease
• parodontal disease
• vaccine