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Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from 23 March 2020, routine dental treatment was stopped by the Chief Dental Officer, with the emphasis towards urgent dental care only. Aim To evaluate the activities of the emergency service at a secondary care Urgent Dental Care (UDC) hub during the COVI...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ball, Madeleine, Akintola, Dapo, Harrington, Zoe, Djemal, Serpil
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8420960/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34489546
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41415-021-3379-z
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author Ball, Madeleine
Akintola, Dapo
Harrington, Zoe
Djemal, Serpil
author_facet Ball, Madeleine
Akintola, Dapo
Harrington, Zoe
Djemal, Serpil
author_sort Ball, Madeleine
collection PubMed
description Introduction Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from 23 March 2020, routine dental treatment was stopped by the Chief Dental Officer, with the emphasis towards urgent dental care only. Aim To evaluate the activities of the emergency service at a secondary care Urgent Dental Care (UDC) hub during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods The total number of patients seen from 30 March to 20 June 2020 was recorded. The effectiveness of telephone triage and the appropriateness of patients invited for a clinical assessment were evaluated over a two-week period. Results The number of calls into the UDC hub were highest during the first few weeks, with up to 249 per day. The most commonly provided emergency treatments included extractions and pulp extirpations. Discussion As other UDC hubs opened, the number of calls reduced, with patients being directed to a UDC nearer to where they lived. Conclusions The dental profession had to make some significant changes in the way they worked due to the risk of COVID-19 transmission and due to the effects of the lockdown. This review highlights the effectiveness of telephone triage as well as its drawbacks.
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spelling pubmed-84209602021-09-07 Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic Ball, Madeleine Akintola, Dapo Harrington, Zoe Djemal, Serpil Br Dent J Research Introduction Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from 23 March 2020, routine dental treatment was stopped by the Chief Dental Officer, with the emphasis towards urgent dental care only. Aim To evaluate the activities of the emergency service at a secondary care Urgent Dental Care (UDC) hub during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods The total number of patients seen from 30 March to 20 June 2020 was recorded. The effectiveness of telephone triage and the appropriateness of patients invited for a clinical assessment were evaluated over a two-week period. Results The number of calls into the UDC hub were highest during the first few weeks, with up to 249 per day. The most commonly provided emergency treatments included extractions and pulp extirpations. Discussion As other UDC hubs opened, the number of calls reduced, with patients being directed to a UDC nearer to where they lived. Conclusions The dental profession had to make some significant changes in the way they worked due to the risk of COVID-19 transmission and due to the effects of the lockdown. This review highlights the effectiveness of telephone triage as well as its drawbacks. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-09-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8420960/ /pubmed/34489546 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41415-021-3379-z Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to British Dental Association 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Research
Ball, Madeleine
Akintola, Dapo
Harrington, Zoe
Djemal, Serpil
Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic
title Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short Emergency dental care triage during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort emergency dental care triage during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8420960/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34489546
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41415-021-3379-z
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