THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 ON THE UTILIZATION OF DENTAL HOSPITAL SERVICES: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY FROM A TERTIARY CARE DENTAL HOSPITAL

Dr. Mohamad Arshid Khanday*, Dr. Nazia Lone, Dr. Mohsin Sidiq and Dr. Ashiq Hussain Qureshi

ABSTRACT

Background/Purpose: To assess how the current COVID-19 pandemic influenced peoples’ utilization of emergency dental services in Kashmir, India. Methods: The patients seeking emergency dental services before or at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic were retrieved. A retrospective analysis was conducted so as to retrieve patients seeking emergency dental services in govt dental college and hospital. The test period of the COVID-19 pandemic was between April 2021-December-2021. The control period was pre-COVID-19 pandemic between April-2019-December-2020 when there was no policy factors or personal considerations about the pandemic. Results: There were 86547 patients involved in the present study. Of these 26297 visited during the COVID- period and 60250 during the Pre-COVID period. 30.4% fewer patients visited the hospital at the beginning of the covid -19 compared to the same time period before covid 19 (26297 vs 60250). Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, the COVID-19 epidemic had a strong influence on the utilization of emergency dental services.

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