The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the utilization of emergency dental services

Huaqiu Guo; Yin Zhou; Xiaoqiang Liu; Jianguo Tan

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2020.02.002

The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the utilization of emergency dental services

J Dent Sci. 2020 Dec;15(4):564-567. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2020.02.002. Epub 2020 Mar 16.

Authors

Huaqiu Guo¹, Yin Zhou², Xiaoqiang Liu³, Jianguo Tan³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral Emergency, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, National Engineering Laboratory for Digital and Material Technology of Stomatology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Digital Stomatology, Beijing, China.
² Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Prosthodontics, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, National Engineering Laboratory for Digital and Material Technology of Stomatology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Digital Stomatology, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background/purpose: To assess how the current COVID-19 epidemic influenced peoples' utilization of emergency dental services in Beijing, China.

Methods: The first-visit patients seeking emergency dental services before or at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic were retrieved. Their demographic characteristics and the reasons for visiting were recorded and analyzed.

Results: There were 2,537 patients involved in this study. Thirty-eight percent fewer patients visited the dental urgency at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic than before. The distribution of dental problems has changed significantly. The proportion of dental and oral infection raised from 51.0% of pre-COVID-19 to 71.9% during COVID-19, and dental trauma decreased from 14.2% to 10.5%. Meanwhile, the non-urgency cases reduced to three-tenths of pre-COVID-19.

Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, the COVID-19 epidemic had a strong influence on the utilization of emergency dental services.

Keywords: COVID-19; Dental care; Emergencies; Epidemics.