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After Monday’s announcement that the government is limiting public gatherings to eight people, the question of requirements for oral protection in public places is being raised again.
Several of our neighboring countries After the summer, he began recommending or introducing requirements for oral protection in public settings. In Finland it is a recommendation, while Denmark has gone one step further and introduced requirements for it. Oral protection is also a requirement on public transport in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. Votes have begun to be raised so that it can also be included in recommendations or requirements for it in Sweden.
On Wednesday, a Danish study was published showing that mouth protection has a limited effect on those who use it.
– This reinforces the line of the Public Health Agency. At the very least, it doesn’t provide support for mouth protection requirements, says Kjell Torén, professor and chief physician in the department of community medicine and public health at Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg.
The study, DANMASK-19, is conducted by researchers from the Copenhagen University Hospital. Just under 5,000 adults spent at least three hours a day outside their homes, half wearing a mask and half without it. Study results showed that 1.8 percent (42 people) of the participants with mouth guards had been infected, while 2.1 percent (53 people) of those who did not use worms had an infection.
– Find a slight decrease that is within the margin of error. It is a well-done randomized study in the cultural context in which we live. My assessment is that this study is not an argument against oral hygiene, but neither is it an argument for oral hygiene. Show that you must be careful in your posture, says Kjell Torén.
At the same time, other researchers point to existing science and say that mouth protection certainly works.
– As an epidemiologist, public health researcher, and physician, I searched the existing literature and soon discovered that there is good support for oral protection among hospital staff and laboratory staff. But the next step, getting eight million Swedes to wear mouth guards correctly every day, I don’t think will work. My assessment at the time was that the existing research was not sufficient to introduce requirements for oral protection in Sweden. The Danish study confirms this.
Earlier this week, WHO Executive Director Michael Ryan said oral protection works. Therefore, they recommend that all countries with an extensive spread of covid-19 where the risk of spread is high wear mouth guards. The United States’ response to the Swedish Public Health Agency, the CDC and the equivalent EU ECDC also believe that oral protection helps reduce the spread of Covid-19.
How will the study be received internationally?
– This will be the study you will cite. It has an absolutely high quality. It will have a great impact.
Photo: Anette Nantell
On the other side of the question is Fredrik Elgh, professor of virology at Umeå University. He has long been an advocate for oral protection and for him the Danish study does not change anything.
– It is not a completely unexpected result. The study is about how good mouth protection protects oneself and is not just mouth protection. However, there are quite heavy studies that show that mouth protection prevents 90 percent of the virus from leaving the contagious person. If all the supporters wear mouth protection, it has an effect, says Fredrik Elgh.
– I hope this does not start to be used as an alternative fact now. That would be very unfortunate.
But other researchers say there is no credible scientific evidence that mouth protection has a positive effect.
– That’s silly. It is tragic that there is so much science that it is not taken seriously. Mouth guards will never have a 100% effect. It is not possible, but it does not have other measures either. But we must use every possible tool available, says Fredrik Elgh.
– There are at least 70 scientific trials on protective masks and the absolute majority speak of a positive effect, so I do not understand why we should not use mouth guards. In the German city of Jena, which introduced oral protection requirements much earlier than in other German cities, the infection slowed down very well compared to the rest of Germany.
Read more:
Opened for the use of mouth guards, but Swedes skeptical
Tegnell: mouth protection is not the answer
Virologist Fredrik Elgh does not understand why Sweden has not introduced requirements for oral protection.
Photo: Private
Marjukka Mäkelä, teacher in general medicine at the University of Copenhagen, investigated the effect of oral protection for the Finnish government with colleagues in Summaryx. She believes that there are no reliable studies today that show that mouth guards help prevent the spread of infections in public settings.
– In the studies that have been carried out, mouth protection against the spread of infection did not help, says Marjukka Mäkelä.
She believes that only after the pandemic is it possible to see which measures have been successful and which have been less successful. He also does not want to comment on whether or not he believes in oral protection as an effective protection against the spread of Covid-19.
– It’s a complex situation. We not only use oral protection, but also social distancing and hand hygiene. We avoid large charges and it is difficult to separate these measures and point out the effect of each individual measure. We may get the answers after the pandemic if we compare the strategies of different countries.
Marjukka Mäkelä believes that research has yet to show any reliable evidence that mouth guards work.
Photo: Ville Rinne
