COVID and Dentistry | Latest News

Side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.Soon after vaccination campaign kicked off, we described a case of facial paralysis following Pfizer-Biontech dose 1 vaccine injection. This was the world’s first case reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature occurring post-marketing with any COVID-19 vaccine1. On the back of these observations, I scrutinised all the known and reported orofacial adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. My research report showed that there was heterogeneity in the acknowledgement of these adverse events in North America compared to Europe, as well as inconsistencies and omissions in the description of oral adverse effects2.

In March 2020, while in Italy, I examined a 36-year-old woman with no associated medical conditions who presented with ageusia and anosmia. This patient eventually tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and was the first well documented case that specifically reported taste and smell alteration as the sole manifestation of COVID-19 in an otherwise healthy individual.