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

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.