Skip to main content
Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran logoLink to Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran
. 2023 Apr 11;37:36. doi: 10.47176/mjiri.37.36

Assessing Google Searches for Toothache during COVID-19 Lockdowns

Ahmad Sofi-Mahmudi 1, Erfan Shamsoddin 1,*, Peyman Ghasemi 2, Mona Nasser 3, Bita Mesgarpour 1
PMCID: PMC10240547  PMID: 37284693

Abstract

Background

Lockdowns due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced many dental offices to be closed. This study aims to investigate the association between COVID-19 imposed lockdowns and online searches for toothache using Google Trends (GT).

Methods

We investigated GT online searches for the term “toothache” within the past 5 years. The time frame for data gathering was considered as the initiation and end dates of national/regional lockdowns in each country. We used 1-way analysis of variance to identify statistical differences in relative search volumes (RSVs) between 2020 and 2016-2019 for each country.

Results

Overall, 16 countries were included in our analyses. Among all countries, Indonesia (n = 100), Jamaica (n = 56), Philippines (n = 56), Iran (n = 52), and Turkey (47) had the highest RSVs for toothache in the specified period. Compared with the previous 4 years, higher RSVs were seen in the world (as a whole) (2020 RSVs, 94.4; vs 2019 RSVs, 77.8 [ P < 0.001]) and 13 countries (81.3% of the included countries).

Conclusion

Generally, searching for the term “toothache” showed an increase during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 compared with the past 4 years. This can imply the importance of dental care as urgent medical care during public health emergencies such as COVID-19.

Keywords: Toothache, COVID-19, Google Trends, Health Care Seeking Behaviour, Lockdown


↑What is “already known” in this topic:

During the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many dental offices around the world stopped operating to help contain the spread of the virus. As a result, accessibility of dental care diminished significantly.

→What this article adds:

During the first lockdown, people in the majority of countries searched for toothache more than ever, which can mean that people sought dental care online; thus, such care should be taken into consideration in health plans in emergencies.

Introduction

Since December 2019, a soaring pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has paved its way through the world. Nearly 1 month later, the disease was announced as a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1). Devastating consequences of COVID-19 go beyond clinical symptoms, and other deteriorations have been addressed in the literature as well. These could be of various types, including health care provision problems (2). One of the leading health issues among the public is dental pain. Dental pain or toothache can affect the quality of life and disrupt individual and/or social life (3). Toothache is the most common complaint expressed by individuals according to several studies (4). Irreversible pulpal/apical pathology was the most common diagnosis in a tertiary hospital located in the UK's COVID-19 pandemic epicenter, according to a study evaluating the quality of the institution's services (63.4% of all diagnoses) (5). Accordingly, immediate access to a reliable pain relief source seems to be necessary.

This can be of even more concern when people cannot easily access their dental practitioners. In several countries, dental offices have been closed or restricted in terms of practice hours because of the pandemic, and triage systems have been put in place in many to reduce nonemergency and aerosol-generating procedures (6). Issuance of several clinical guidelines and restrictive protocols by major regulatory organisations might be another cause for limited access to dentists during this outbreak (7). Even in communities that these restrictions were not implemented, little public transports might have lowered individuals’ chances of seeing their dentists.

Google Trends (GT) can be used to assess implicit consequences of COVID-19 or any other possible public health emergencies. GT uses the Google Search queries by all people around the world and provides the summary statistics of the searches for each word or word combination globally, nationally, and subnationally. This platform has already been proven as a reliable pubic surveillance tool for epidemiological studies (8). It was used as an indicator of influenza outbreak and has been similarly applicable for predicting national COVID-19 outbreaks (9).

Obtaining the most comprehensive results is an essential step while searching through the GT service. While certain nations at this time had restricted access to dental care and emergency treatment, toothaches are still seen as a condition that should be given immediate attention and care in all nations. We realised that there is a range of search terms used to describe dental problems, for example, toothache, tooth pain, tooth decay, dental caries, and et cetera. We intended to use 1 term to minimize variations in the choice of search. Knowing that toothache and tooth pain are the most common symptoms in dental patients and could cause some major complications in habitual and/or working activities, they were considered the main representatives for dental needs (4). Thus, we considered the term “toothache” as a suitable keyword to assess the online GT search queries related to dental pain among the public. Similar studies regarding different aspects of oral health during the COVID-19 pandemic has been published (10, 11).

This study sought to assess the association between the lockdowns due to COVID-19 and online searches for toothache using GT. This can be used as a surrogate outcome for dental needs of the people during the lockdowns. Our research question was as follows:

Considering the disparities in internet access between the included nations, did differences in relative search volumes (RSVs) for toothache rise during COVID-19 lockdowns in comparison to the same period in the previous 4 years in those countries?

Methods

Using GT, we looked into internet search behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. This web service determines the proportion of searches for a user-specified term among all searches performed on Google Search. It then provides a relative search volume (RSV), which is the query share of a particular term for a given location and period, normalized by the highest query share of that term over the time series and presented on a scale from 0 to 100 (12), with 100 indicating the highest searches for a specific time and 0 no searches in that specific time. RSV is shown as the “interest” value on the GT website.

We selected “toothache” as a “topic” in the GT search box. After that, we gathered worldwide RSVs for toothache in the GT platform. Turning to a country-level search, from 187 countries that reported data regarding the COVID-19 death tolls, we included the ones that fell in the highest 10% of the deaths per 100,000 due to COVID-19 (till July 14, 2020, data retrieved from: worldometers.info/coronavirus) (N = 18). We gathered RSVs data for each country in the past 5 years and segregated it into 3 consequent months from the date of national lockdown due to COVID-19 onwards (12 weeks) (13 ).

Given that the lockdowns commenced on March 15, 2020, in most countries, we considered the same date as the initiating point of the “time range” in GT searches. From 2016 to 2019, we conducted the same search using a comparable time frame. We also checked RSVs for all countries in the world in this period and plotted a heat world map using Excel 2019.

We normalized the data based on each country's reported internet penetration rate from 2016 to 2020 because internet access has likely changed over the past 5 years. We plotted the trend of “toothache” for each country from 5 years ago till the end of lockdowns in 2020. A 1-way analysis of variance was then performed to identify whether there was a statistical difference for RSV scores between the year 2020 and 2016-2019 for each country. Statistical analyses were done using Python Version 3.6.7 (2018-10-20) (Python Software Foundation http://www.python.org) on Google Colab.

Results

During this period of worldwide lockdown, Indonesia (n = 100), Jamaica (n = 56), Philippines (n = 56), Iran (n = 52), Turkey (n = 47), and Oman (n = 34) had the highest RSVs for toothache. Colombia (n = 3), South Korea (n = 3), Argentina (n = 4), Peru (n = 6), Japan (n = 6), and Finland (n = 6) had the lowest RSVs. Most African and central Asian countries did not provide any data (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

World heat map for toothache RSVs during 15/3/2020-7/6/2020.

Figure 1

San Marino and Andora did not have any GT data and were therefore omitted from our included countries. Thus, 16 countries remained in our analyses. Among our target countries, Belgium and Switzerland had the highest and lowest deaths/million, respectively (844.5 and 227.4, respectively). Only Sweden had not introduced any lockdowns in the given time range, whereas the other countries had lockdowns with different extents (city [n = 1], state [n = 3], national [n = 11]) and strategies (complete lockdown [n = 12], restriction [n = 2], intelligent lockdown [n = 1]). The median of the start and end date of the lockdowns were March 19, 2020, and May, 10, 2020, respectively. Full details of the characteristics of the included countries are shown in Appendix 1.

Thirteen nations, as well as the entire world, displayed higher RSV levels in 2020 when compared to the mean of the preceding 4 years (Table 1). Sweden, the Netherlands, and Ecuador showed lower RSVs in 2020 compared with the each of the previous years (Table 2). Figure 1 illustrates the worldwide RSVs trend during 3 months after the lockdowns in 2020 and the same period in the past 4 years (see Appendix 2 for countries’ trends in the same time range), and RSVs trend in the past 5 years is shown in Figure 2 (see Appendix 3 for countries’ trends in the same time range). Figure 3 shows the global RSVs trend for the past five years before the pandemic.

Table 1. Results of the ANOVA test on the RSV values for the term “Toothache” in a worldwide scale and the included countries.

Country 2020 with 2019-6 2020 with 2019 2020 with 2018 2020 with 2017 2020 with 2016
F P F P F P F P F P
World 3243.9 <0.001 2380.5 <0.001 2565.8 <0.001 2948.2 <0.001 3328.2 <0.001
Belgium 3.9 0.053 1.8 0.194 1.2 0.289 2.5 0.129 5.2 0.033
UK 130.7 <0.001 55.5 <0.001 63.2 <0.001 105.8 <0.001 131.9 <0.001
Spain 54.0 <0.001 31.3 <0.001 27.5 <0.001 31.0 <0.001 12.2 0.002
Italy 204.0 <0.001 76.1 <0.001 70.2 <0.001 74.9 <0.001 85.4 <0.001
Sweden 0.4 0.519 0.1 0.704 3.9 0.059 0.2 0.640 <0.1 0.878
France 112.4 <0.001 55.5 <0.001 56.0 <0.001 84.3 <0.001 41.5 <0.001
USA 120.2 <0.001 62.8 <0.001 72.1 <0.001 105.3 <0.001 152.5 <0.001
Chile 6.0 0.017 3.1 0.094 9.7 0.005 1.5 0.239 7.3 0.012
Netherlands 0.2 0.673 0.2 0.648 1.9 0.187 <0.1 0.838 0.3 0.599
Ireland 7.9 0.007 2.0 0.174 3.9 0.060 4.6 0.044 6.6 0.017
Brazil 429.7 <0.001 552.2 <0.001 680.8 <0.001 739.4 <0.001 1198.4 <0.001
Ecuador 0.6 0.431 <0.1 0.915 1.2 0.280 <0.1 0.812 3.6 0.007
Mexico 36.9 <0.001 21.4 <0.001 22.8 <0.001 28.2 <0.001 14.0 0.001
Canada 38.0 <0.001 10.4 0.004 24.7 <0.001 23.3 <0.001 46.4 <0.001
Switzerland 2.1 0.154 1.9 0.185 3.4 0.079 <0.1 0.774 2.4 0.137
Armenia 26.8 <0.001 14.7 <0.001 26.2 <0.001 13.8 <0.001 33.3 <0.001
Portugal 5.4 0.023 3.9 0.062 3.4 0.078 0.4 0.534 4.9 0.037
Iran 99.2 <0.001 38.7 <0.001 34.6 <0.001 50.0 <0.001 99.0 <0.001
Germany 20.0 <0.001 22.5 <0.001 14.8 <0.001 10.9 0.003 7.8 0.010
Colombia 12.0 <0.001 2.5 0.126 6.9 0.015 7.6 0.012 7.7 0.011
Denmark 2.6 0.110 0.2 0.651 1.5 0.230 0.9 0.348 12.1 0.002
Romania 19.8 <0.001 7.0 0.014 8.1 0.009 6.8 0.016 9.3 0.006

RSV, relative search volume; F, F-value; P, P value.

Table 2. Mean RSV Values for the Term “Toothache” by Country for Each Year Between 2016 and 2020.

Country 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
World 94.4 77.8 73.6 71.9 66.3
Belgium 32.4 30.2 30.5 26.8 24.4
UK 88.7 72 68.6 63.2 59.9
Spain 79.2 64.1 64.8 64.9 70.7
Italy 69.8 59.1 60.8 63 60.1
Sweden 51.2 52.5 45.9 52.6 56.2
France 81.1 65.6 66.7 61.4 70.3
USA 87.3 83.5 82.7 78.2 71.7
Chile 64.1 59.1 55.3 64.6 55.2
Netherlands 55.9 54.5 62.7 55.5 58.7
Ireland 69.7 67.7 63.3 61.9 61.3
Brazil 92.9 74 64.7 58 49.7
Ecuador 21 27.1 20.2 30.1 14.8
Mexico 21.2 18.3 18.5 18 19.2
Canada 85.5 78.5 69.8 71.6 62.8
Switzerland 43.4 41.8 36.8 45.7 39.1
Armenia 36.3 17 12.7 18.7 8.5
Portugal 43.6 39.1 39.2 48.8 37.3
Iran 78.5 68.9 68.7 61.6 49.1
Germany 68 65.3 67 68.9 69.9
Colombia 23.6 23.7 16.3 16.3 16.6
Denmark 34.3 32.8 29.8 30.1 23.8
Romania 52.3 46.8 45.9 47.8 43.6

RSV, relative search volume.

Figure 2.

Worldwide RSVs trend in 3 months post lockdown in 2020 and the same time range in 2016-2019.

Figure 2

Figure 3.

Worldwide RSVs trend for past 5 years (equation: y = 0.0129x - 480.09).

Figure 3

Discussion

Pandemic fear and death anxiety have already been suggested as major factors that negatively influence the public’s mental health during the COVID-19 era (14). Additionally, dentistry has widely been described as a high-risk medical profession for viral infections, including COVID-19 (15, 16). This idea may cause fear and anxiety, which will decrease the number of people seeking dental treatment and the number of dentists who can provide it (6). Moreover, in some countries, dental services are predominantly provided by the private sector (17, 18) and regulations also introduced restrictions to public services or both public and private services. There may be a vacuum in the availability of dental services in some places if private practitioners decide not to offer them during the pandemic (19). Regulatory restrictions to halt the viral spread could further limit and/or change access to dental services during the outbreak (20).

Since various restrictive health policies (social distancing, national lockdowns, restrictive professional protocols, etc) have been issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in different regions, the lockdowns have generally been of various types. Political position, cultural tendencies, economic resiliency, and health care system development have all been mentioned as major role players in determining the counteracts to COVID-19 in each country and/or region (21-24).

Through our literature review, very few studies were found to determine dental care-seeking behaviour (CSB) in patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were only 2 studies, one of which assessed dental challenges and needs of the population in some Western countries (11), and the other was limited to Iran (10). Another study assessed the internet search trends of Filipinos’ oral health-seeking behaviour from 2010 to 2020 ( 25). According to their results, the Philippines’ most prevalent oral health problems were dental caries and edentulism. Obtaining clinical answers from a user-friendly platform like Google was emphasized in our study. Another assessment of online search trends for common oral problems reported the term “toothache” to be the highest-searched query in GT between 2004 and 2014 (26). All in all, the term “toothache” has already been considered to be a suitable keyword to assess the online CSB for dental issues among the public.

Our study aimed to evaluate the association between COVID-19 imposed lockdowns and global online searches for toothache using the GT platform. Among the 16 primary countries in our analyses, 13 presented higher RSV values (for the keyword “toothache”) in 2020 compared with the mean RSVs in the past 4 years. These results partly reinforce our hypothesis about the major role of the COVID-19 pandemic on accessibility to dental service during the government-imposed curfews and lockdowns. This also has been investigated in a previous study that examined online searches for toothache in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (10).

Lower online search RSVs for toothache in 3 countries (Sweden, Netherlands, and Ecuador) out of 16 could be related to CSB alterations among the population. As we stated in the results, Sweden was among the countries that did not introduce any lockdowns. In Sweden, it has been demonstrated that CSB is related to a number of sociodemographic characteristics, including income, educational attainment, and type of dwelling (27). Accordingly, whether an individual seeks information from online databases (using GT) generally differs among various regions and individuals. A possible explanation for the lower RSVs for toothache in 2020 in all these countries could be that the public might have answered their clinical questions using other resources, for instance, asking their dentists by phone or even attending a public dental emergency centre to receive the dental care (28, 29). The mean use of Google Search Engine is reported to be above 95% for all these countries (data from: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share). Accordingly, the difference in search engine market share cannot be suggested as a possible cause for this issue.

We tried to utilize a comprehensive and pragmatic methodology so that the least number of online searches would be neglected. By selecting “toothache” as a “topic” in GT, we ensured to cover any lexical, semantic, and grammatical nuances during translation and language alterations. The population that made up the data sample cannot be precisely defined, hence data produced from GT should be interpreted with caution. Prompt fluctuations in searching trend can also occur due to media and news agendas (locally or broader aspects). Additionally, it can never be traced if one had searched a term out of curiosity or to address their personal health needs. The internet accessibility bias, which essentially relates to differences in internet access across various social groups, is another inherent bias (based on their demographic status, namely literacy level, socioeconomic status, age, etc.).

Conclusion

When compared to the previous 4 years, online searches for the term "toothache" increased in more than 80% of the countries we chose to study during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, which may be a sign that more people will worry about their dental needs during the pandemic era when many dental clinics were forced to close their doors to treat the patients. Accordingly, addressing dental health care as a highly-sought-after medical need is of utter importance during public health emergencies like COVID-19. To do so, health policymakers should be informed about the importance of dental care and be preprepared for situations like lockdowns.

Abbreviations

COVID-19: coronavirus disease-2019; WHO: World Health Organization; CSB: Care seeking behaviour; GT: Google Trends; RSV: relative search volume.

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets generated during the current study are available in the figshare repository, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13142558.

Authors’ Contributions.

A.S-M. wrote and revised the manuscript and interpreted the data. E.S. conceived, designed, conducted, and supervised the study, interpreted the data, and wrote and revised the manuscript. P.G. interpreted the data and revised the manuscript. M.N. wrote and revised the manuscript. B.M. wrote and revised the manuscript.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

None.

Appendix 1.

Full details of the characteristics of the included countries .

Countries SDI GDPPerCapita Population Deaths LDScope YLD DentistsDensity
Belgium High 46116.7 11,589,623 844 National 288.8 10.47
UK High 42300.27 67,886,011 660 National 234.3 4.49
Spain High-middle 29613.67 46,754,778 608 National 201.3 2.64
Italy High 33189.57 60,461,826 578 National 182.2 7.82
Sweden High 51610.07 10,099,265 548 Non national 246.1 7.9
France High 40493.93 65,273,511 460 National 210.8 6.57
USA High 65280.68 331,002,651 418 Non national 213.3 4.77
Chile High-middle 14896.45 19,116,201 367 Non national 278.1 0.006
Netherlands High 52447.83 17,134,872 358 National 271.1 4.1
Ireland High 78660.96 4,937,786 353 National 270.4 5.02
Brazil Middle 8717.186 212,559,417 343 Non national 345.5 11.17
Ecuador High-middle 6183.824 17,643,054 287 National 328.2 1.41
Mexico High-middle 9863.073 128,932,753 275 National 339.5 0.94
Canada High 46194.73 37,742,154 233 Non national 217.8 6.39
Switzerland High 81993.73 8,654,622 227 National 218 4.78
Armenia High-middle 4622.733 2,963,243 196 National 344.5 1.69
North Macedonia High-middle 6093.148 2,083,374 185 National 247.6
Portugal High-middle 23145.04 10,196,709 163 National 234 10.12
Iran Middle 5520.311 83,992,949 157 National 228.9 1.35
Germany High 46258.88 83,783,942 109 National 248.1 6.65
Colombia High-middle 6432.388 50,882,891 107 National 337.5 5.07
Denmark High 59822.09 5,792,202 105 National 293.3 7.44
Romania High-middle 12919.53 19,237,691 100 National 261.4 3.19
Countries Estimated Individual Internet Access at 2020 Density FertilityRate MediumAge Migants UrbanPercent avg2016 avg2017 avg2018
Belgium 91.007 383 1.7 42 48,000 98 24.41667 26.79167 30.54167
UK 96.6467 281 1.8 40 260,650 83 59.88333 63.20833 68.625
Spain 88.5826 94 1.3 45 40,000 80 70.65833 64.94167 64.79167
Italy 70.5736 206 1.3 47 148,943 69 60.08333 62.99167 60.825
Sweden 92.9088 25 1.9 41 40,000 88 56.15833 52.575 45.93333
France 82.0961 119 1.9 42 36,527 82 70.325 61.375 66.675
USA 87.22 36 1.8 38 954,806 83 71.73333 78.18333 82.69167
Chile 90.9688 26 1.7 35 111,708 85 55.16667 64.58333 55.25
Netherlands 99.1698 508 1.7 43 16,000 92 58.66667 55.53333 62.73333
Ireland 89.4875 72 1.8 38 23,604 63 61.25 61.93333 63.325
Brazil 75.2077 25 1.7 33 21,200 88 49.74167 57.99167 64.69167
Ecuador 75.5527 71 2.4 28 36,400 63 14.83333 30.08333 20.16667
Mexico 74.3396 66 2.1 29 -60,000 84 19.18333 17.95833 18.53333
Canada 94.3148 4 1.5 41 242,032 81 62.83333 71.55 69.79167
Switzerland 91.2909 219 1.5 43 52,000 74 39.14167 45.66667 36.825
Armenia 86.7075 104 1.8 35 -4,998 63 8.5 18.66667 12.66667
North Macedonia 83.1972 83 1.5 39 -1,000 59 9.166667 25.26667 14.01667
Portugal 79.7982 111 1.3 46 -6,000 66 37.25 48.75 39.16667
Iran 78.7289 52 2.2 32 -55,000 76 49.13333 61.64167 68.675
Germany 88.9143 240 1.6 46 543,822 76 69.90833 68.875 66.98333
Colombia 71.2225 46 1.8 31 204,796 80 16.58333 16.25 16.33333
Denmark 98.7987 137 1.8 42 15,200 88 23.75 30.08333 29.83333
Romania 74.4037 84 1.6 43 -73,999 55 43.59167 47.79167 45.90833
Countries avg2019 avg2020 Search Ratio Sex ratio Education Index-2015 AverageIncome LD duration DentalExpenditure PerCapita
Belgium 30.24167 32.35833 1.155741 0.97 0.841 45,870 48 202.28
UK 71.95 88.70833 1.345765 0.99 0.896 41,790 104 220.59
Spain 64.075 79.175 1.197504 0.98 0.818 29,300 57 105.31
Italy 59.05 69.79167 1.14907 0.93 0.814 33,740 71 293.66
Sweden 52.45 51.18333 0.988493 1 0.855 55,540 0 321.16
France 65.65 81.06667 1.228167 0.96 0.839 41,090 56 169.78
USA 83.46667 87.29167 1.104696 0.97 0.9 63,170 118 370.47
Chile 59.08333 64.08333 1.095052 0.97 0.784 14,670 118 6.27
Netherlands 54.53333 55.86667 0.965438 0.98 0.897 51,260 124 221.67
Ireland 67.71667 69.65 1.09588 1 0.91 61,210 68 293.64
Brazil 74.00833 92.90833 1.508048 0.97 0.681 9,080 55 2.34
Ecuador 27.08333 21 0.911392 0.99 0.665 6,110 16 1.62
Mexico 18.31667 21.15833 1.143823 0.96 0.655 9,180 71 2.55
Canada 78.525 85.49167 1.209645 0.98 0.991 44,950 49 338.38
Switzerland 41.78333 43.43333 1.063131 0.98 0.891 84,450 37 70.47
Armenia 17 36.25 2.55132 0.95 0.73 41 5.04
North Macedonia 20.85 16.625 0.959596 0.99 0.673 66 11.05
Portugal 39.08333 43.58333 1.06139 0.9 0.756 21,980 14 75.94
Iran 68.9 78.525 1.264747 1.03 0.704 5,470 37 41.47
Germany 65.325 68.00833 1.003474 0.96 0.914 47,110 48 473.5
Colombia 23.66667 23.58333 1.295195 0.98 0.63 6,180 97 3.68
Denmark 32.75 34.33333 1.179671 0.99 0.923 60,170 31 169.7
Romania 46.8 52.31667 1.136753 0.95 0.769 11,300 48 15.85
Countries DentalExpenditurePerCapitaPPP NationalLockdown HDI
Belgium 219 1 0.919
UK 203.38 1 0.92
Spain 139.6 1 0.893
Italy 293.66 1 0.883
Sweden 321.16 0 0.937
France 184.58 1 0.891
USA 370.47 0 0.92
Chile 6.27 0 0.847
Netherlands 241.59 1 0.933
Ireland 306.72 1 0.942
Brazil 4.24 0 0.761
Ecuador 3.03 1 0.758
Mexico 4.88 1 0.767
Canada 352.15 0 0.922
Switzerland 70.47 1 0.946
Armenia 10.45 1 0.76
North Macedonia 31.68 1 0.759
Portugal 110.5 1 0.85
Iran 140.82 1 0.797
Germany 473.5 1 0.939
Colombia 3.68 1 0.761
Denmark 149.99 1 0.93
Romania 36.94 1 0.816

Appendix 2.

RSVs trends for each country 2020-2016

Belgium graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g004.jpg UK graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g005.jpg
Spain graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g006.jpg Italy graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g007.jpg
Sweden graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g008.jpg France graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g009.jpg
USA graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g010.jpg Chile graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g011.jpg
Netherlands graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g012.jpg Irland graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g013.jpg
Brazil graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g014.jpg Equador graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g015.jpg
Mexico graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g016.jpg Canada graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g017.jpg
Switzerland graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g018.jpg

Appendix 3.

RSVs trends for the past five years in each country 2020-2016

Belgium graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g019.jpg UK graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g020.jpg
Spain graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g021.jpg Italy graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g022.jpg
Sweden graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g023.jpg France graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g024.jpg
USA graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g025.jpg Chile graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g026.jpg
Netherlands graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g027.jpg Irland graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g028.jpg
Brazil graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g029.jpg Equador graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g030.jpg
Mexico graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g031.jpg Canada graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g032.jpg
Switzerland graphic file with name mjiri-37-36-g033.jpg

Cite this article as : Sofi-Mahmudi A, Shamsoddin E, Ghasemi P, Nasser M, Mesgarpour B. Assessing Google Searches for Toothache during COVID-19 Lockdowns. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2023 (11 Apr);37:36. https://doi.org/10.47176/mjiri.37.36

References

  • 1.Wu YC, Chen CS, Chan YJ. The outbreak of COVID-19: An overview. J Chin Med Assoc. 2020;83(3):217. doi: 10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000270. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Tanne JH, Hayasaki E, Zastrow M, Pulla P, Smith P, Rada AG. Covid-19: how doctors and healthcare systems are tackling coronavirus worldwide. BMJ. 2020;368:m1090. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1090. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Spanemberg JC, Cardoso JA, Slob E, López-López J. Quality of life related to oral health and its impact in adults. J Stomatol Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2019;120(3):234. doi: 10.1016/j.jormas.2019.02.004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Maheswaran T, Ramesh V, Krishnan A, Joseph J. Common chief complaints of patients seeking treatment in the government dental institution of Puducherry, India. J Indian Acad Dent Spec Res. 2015;2:55. [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Grossman S, Sandhu P, Sproat C, Patel V. Provision of dental services at a single institution in the UK's epicentre during the COVID-19 pandemic. Br Dent J. 2020;228(12):964. doi: 10.1038/s41415-020-1716-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Guo H, Zhou Y, Liu X, Tan J. The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the utilization of emergency dental services. J Dent Sci. 2020;15(4):564. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2020.02.002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 7. CDC. Guidance for Dental Settings USA: CDC; 2020 [Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/dental-settings.html.
  • 8.Nuti SV, Wayda B, Ranasinghe I, Wang S, Dreyer RP, Chen SI. et al. The Use of Google Trends in Health Care Research: A Systematic Review. PloS One. 2014;9(10) doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109583. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 9.Husnayain A, Fuad A, Su EC. Applications of Google Search Trends for risk communication in infectious disease management: A case study of the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;95:221. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.03.021. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 10.Sofi-Mahmudi A, Shamsoddin E, Ghasemi P, Mehrabi Bahar, Shaban Azad, Sadeghi G. Association of COVID-19-imposed lockdown and online searches for toothache in Iran. BMC Oral Health. 2021;21(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s12903-021-01428-z. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 11.Sycinska-Dziarnowska M, Paradowska-Stankiewicz I. Dental Challenges and the Needs of the Population during the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. Real-Time Surveillance Using Google Trends. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(23) doi: 10.3390/ijerph17238999. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Nuti SV, Wayda B, Ranasinghe I, Wang S, Dreyer RP, Chen SI. et al. The use of google trends in health care research: a systematic review. PloS One. 2014;9(10):e109583. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109583. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 13. Wikipedia. COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns: Wikimedia Foundation; 2020 [updated 7/23/2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_lockdowns.
  • 14.Ornell F, Schuch JB, Sordi AO, Kessler FHP. "Pandemic fear" and COVID-19: mental health burden and strategies. Rev Bras de Psiquiatr. 2020;42(3):232. doi: 10.1590/1516-4446-2020-0008. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 15.Dave M, Seoudi N, Coulthard P. Urgent dental care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet. 2020;395(10232):1257. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30806-0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 16.Shamsoddin E. Substantial Aspects of Health Equity During and After COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Review. International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA)(2020), Policies for Equitable Access to Health (PEAH) (2020) 2020
  • 17.Cascaes AM, Camargo MBJd, Castilhos EDd, Barros AJ. Private dental insurance expenditure in Brazil. Rev Saude Publica. 2018;52:24. doi: 10.11606/S1518-8787.2018052000340. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 18.Mertz E, O’Neil E. The growing challenge of providing oral health care services to all Americans. Health Affairs. 2002;21(5):65–77. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.21.5.65. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 19.Moraes RR, Correa MB, Queiroz AB, Daneris Â, Lopes JP, Pereira-Cenci T. et al. COVID-19 challenges to dentistry in the new pandemic epicenter: Brazil. PloS One. 2020;15(11):e0242251. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242251. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 20.Sinjari B, Rexhepi I, Santilli M, G DA, Chiacchiaretta P, Di Carlo. et al. The Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on Dental Practice in Central Italy-Outcomes of A Survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(16) doi: 10.3390/ijerph17165780. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 21.Painter M, Qiu T. Political beliefs affect compliance with covid-19 social distancing orders. Available at SSRN 3569098. 2020
  • 22.Grossman G, Kim S, Rexer J, Thirumurthy H. Political partisanship influences behavioral responses to governors’ recommendations for COVID-19 prevention in the United States. Available at SSRN 3578695. 2020 doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007835117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
  • 23.Figari F, Fiorio CV. Welfare resilience in the immediate aftermath of the covid-19 outbreak in italy. EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Tech Rep. 2020
  • 24.Grasselli G, Pesenti A, Cecconi M. Critical care utilization for the COVID-19 outbreak in Lombardy, Italy: early experience and forecast during an emergency response. Jama. 2020;323(16):1545. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.4031. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 25.Dalanon J, Matsuka Y. A 10-Year Analysis of Internet Search Trends of the Oral Health−Seeking Behavior of Filipinos. Poverty Public Policy. 2020;12(2):175. [Google Scholar]
  • 26.Harorlı O, Harorlı H. Evaluation of internet search trends of some common oral problems, 2004 to 2014. Community Dent Health. 2014;31:188. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 27.Liu L, Zhang Y, Wu W, Cheng R. Characteristics of dental care-seeking behavior and related sociodemographic factors in a middle-aged and elderly population in northeast China. BMC Oral Health. 2015;15:66. doi: 10.1186/s12903-015-0053-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 28.Javanparast S, Roeger L, Kwok H, Reed R. The Experience of Australian General Practice Patients at High Risk of Poor Health Outcomes with Telehealth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study. BMC Fam Pract. 2021 Apr 8;22(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s12875-021-01408-w. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 29.Langella J, Magnuson B, Finkelman MD, Amato R. Clinical Response to COVID-19 and Utilization of an Emergency Dental Clinic in an Academic Institution. J Endod. 2021 Apr;47(4):566–571. doi: 10.1016/j.joen.2020.11.025. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during the current study are available in the figshare repository, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13142558.


Articles from Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran are provided here courtesy of Iran University of Medical Sciences

RESOURCES