Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urgent dental care delivery in a Swiss university center for dental medicine

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess whether the emergency service of a major Swiss dental institution faced different demands (patient volume, treatment needs, dental care characteristics) during a lockdown, issued to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with the weeks before and after. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of patients receiving urgent care at a university center for dental medicine (Basel, Switzerland) during the 6-week lockdown, pre-lockdown, and post-lockdown periods were retrospectively evaluated. Statistical analysis involved tests for equal proportions and logistic regression models. The level of significance was set at α=0.05. RESULTS: The study comprised 3109 dental emergency visits in the period from February 2 to June 5, 2020. Daily caseloads increased during lockdown. Abscesses, orthodontic emergencies, and surgical follow-ups were more common during lockdown, whereas the number of dento-alveolar injuries declined (≤0.048). Urgent dental care provision involved intraoral radiographs more frequently in the pre-lockdown period compared with the following weeks (p<0.001). Among all treatments, aerosol-generating procedures dropped from 56.1% (pre-lockdown) to 21.3% during lockdown (p<0.001), while teledentistry follow-ups became more frequent (p<0.001). Patients with comorbidities sought urgent dental care less frequently during the post-lockdown period (p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The lockdown significantly impacted the dental emergency service in terms of patients’ diagnoses, treatment needs, and the characteristics of the urgent care that was delivered. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Access to essential dental care must be monitored and safeguarded throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond as deferred care entails risks for serious sequelae and persons with comorbidities may change their dental care-seeking behavior.