The influence of 2020 coronavirus lockdown on presentation of oral and maxillofacial trauma to a central London hospital

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 was first identified in China in December 2019. Its spread resulted in a pandemic, with the United Kingdom entering a period of national lockdown on 23 March 2020 to reduce disease burden on the National Health Service (NHS). King’s College Hospital is a Major Trauma Centre serving an inner-city population of 700,000 with 120,000 patients attending the emergency department (ED) annually. We aimed to determine the effect of lockdown on OMFS trauma presentations and lessons learned from emergency service provision during a pandemic. All referrals to the oral and maxillofacial surgical (OMFS) team from ED during the first six weeks of the lockdown period – 23 March 2020 - 3 May 2020 – were compared with the same six-week period in 2019. A total of 111 referrals were made to OMFS during the first six weeks of the lockdown period in 2020 compared with 380 referrals in 2019. Of these, 50.5%, (n = 192) were related to facial trauma in 2019 vs (63.1%, n = 70) in 2020. Fewer patients were admitted under OMFS: 17.4% (n = 35) in 2019 vs 2.9% (n = 2) in 2020, and a greater number of patients were discharged from OMFS care directly from the ED: 63.2% (n = 127) in 2019 vs 82.9% (n = 58) in 2020. There was profound effect of the lockdown on referrals to OMFS from the ED, in number and type of diagnosis. This is potentially reflective of the increased availability of acute/emergency dental services in South-East London during the lockdown period. This gives us valuable insight for service planning in the event of further restrictions.