*3.2. Opinions of Dentists on Infection and Preventive Measures*

A succession of items identified the dentists' opinion about preventive measures such as establishing shorter dental interventions. Two items investigated the respondents' opinions about the risk of infection in dental settings. Additionally, some items self-rated the fear of infection related to patients (they did not declare the truth about their health; they could transmit the infection to dentists; they did not wear medical masks during dental interventions which increased the risk of contagion) and related to preventive practices (fear of infection due to inappropriate use; the medical suit did not offer 100% protection).

Finally, dentists were asked to rate their state of anxiety when watching the news and reading stories related to COVID-19 pandemic. The answers were rated on a Likert-like scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always) and the results are presented in Table 2.



<sup>1</sup> Means and standard deviations (M ± SD).
