Highly educated patients have lower dental compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study.
BMC Oral Health
; 22(1): 284, 2022 07 12.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35820884
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is rapidly changed medical habits, and dental clinics have been forced to adapt. This study explored the pandemic-induced changes in patient utilization of dental services to assist practitioners in responding efficiently to similar public crises as references in the future.METHODS:
We retrospectively analyzed the correlation between patient profiles and dental visits attendance within 2 months before and during the outbreak.RESULTS:
A total of 332 patients, 210 women and 122 men (total number of visits 1068) were enrolled in this study. A significantly lower attendance rate was noted during the COVID-19 period (70.3%) than prior to the pandemic (83.4%). The rate of return visits for patients with a high education level during the COVID-19 period was significantly reduced from 96.5 to 93.1%. In addition, the number of days between two visits significantly increased during the pandemic.CONCLUSIONS:
Our results indicate that, during the pandemic period, the attendance rates of return dental appointments decreased, and the rate of missed appointments for patients with a high educational levels was higher than that of patients with a low educational level. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Preventive management of these patients who are easy to miss dental appointments may enable more effective use of medical resources.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Oral Health
Journal subject:
ODONTOLOGIA
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Taiwán