Impact of COVID-19 on the frequency of dental appointments and types of dental health care services

Objectives: To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the frequency of provision of dental appointments and types of dental care services.Methods: The dental records of three dental health services, over 3 months, in the year before (2019) and a year during (2020) the pandemic were retrieved. The dental records were categorized according to the referral after diagnosis into prosthodontics, pedodontics, orthodontics, conservative, endodontics, periodontics, and oral surgery. The demographic variables and types of treatment provided were recorded and analyzed. The frequency of appointments was determined from overall dental records and departmental dental records. Chi square test was used to determine the effect of gender and age on dental appointments.Results: According to the dental records for 2019, 7286 appointments were provided, and this number decreased by 2.4-fold to 3090 appointments in 2020. The records indicated that the highest decreases were in non-urgent dental appointments in the periodontics, orthodontics and conservative departments (8, 8, and 4.6-fold, respectively). Statistically significant differences in dental pre-pandemic and pandemic appointments were identified for gender and age group. Female and older (>64 years old) subjects appeared to be less willing to attend dental appointments (OR=1.2 and 1.3, respectively) compared to their male and younger counterparts.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant influence on decreasing attendance at dental appointments and the records show that the highest decreases were in non-urgent dental departments.