Prevalence of Oral Lesions and Associated Disorders in Long- and Short-term COVID-19 Patients: A Cross-sectional Study

intake of antibiotics and steroids, especially in long COVID, the modulation of the oral microbiome may result in various oral diseases such as dental caries, candidiasis, etc. SARS-CoV-2 exhibits a strong affinity to angiotensin-converting enzyme IntroductIonSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has caused a global pandemic.It spreads to humans through aerosols or human contact.The outbreak of this disease commenced in December 2019, and in India, lockdown was declared by March 2020.As per the latest World Health Organization (WHO) census in India, as on January 2024, about 45 million coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases with 5.33 lakh deaths and in Tamil Nadu about 35.9 lakh COVID-19 cases with 38,049 deaths have been recorded. 1At present, the disease spurts and settles in many parts of the world.Although the mortality rate is very low (1.2%), the disease is of great concern as it affects multiple organs and spreads very fast, causing a pandemic in a very short duration.Based on the persistence of symptoms, COVID-19 has been classified into short COVID (symptoms for 5-7 days) and long COVID (>2 weeks of symptoms). [2][3]3][4][5] Oral manifestations (OM) encountered during SARS-CoV-2 have been documented in many research literatures.Many OM such as loss of taste, xerostomia, COVID tongue, etc. were reported in relation to SARS-CoV-2.The oral manifestation expressed during the SARS-CoV-2 infection is mainly due to the COVID infection or the exacerbation of the underlying disease, which is still a skepticism. 6he immune surveillance of the body during SARS-CoV-2 infection is usually very active; however, due to excessive 1,3-6,