Woolley J, Djemal S. Traumatic Dental Injuries During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Prim Dent J 2021; 10: 28-32.
The results suggest that the period affected the aetiology and diagnosis of traumatic dental injuries as well as patients' behaviours in seeking dental care.
This paper details the characteristics of traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 at an Urgent Dental Care hub at King's College Hospital Dental Institute, London, UK. For comparisons to be made, the characteristics of TDIs from a similar period in 2019 were also collected. Data were collected retrospectively from clinical records of patients suffering from dental trauma during both periods. In total 28 patients presented with TDIs during the COVID-19 pandemic from 13 April to 8 June 2020. In the previous year, there were 52 patients with TDIs between 15 April 2019 to 10 June 2019.
This analysis demonstrated a reduction of 50% of TDIs presenting during the COVID-19 period compared to 2019. The age distribution of patients suffering with TDIs did not differ hugely for the population below the age of 50 during the COVID-19 period, albeit a higher total number of patients presented in 2019. Above this age range, there was a significant reduction in patients, with no TDIs seen in patients above the age of 70 during the COVID-19 lockdown and fewer above the age of 50.
The aetiology of TDIs were different during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to 2019. The majority of the populations had restrictions on movement and sport, social distancing measures were in place and traffic in London reduced by roughly 53%. This was clearly evident in the data analysis, with TDIs sustained from car accidents, sports and violence/assault contributing a minor 4% of the total TDIs compared to 51% in the pre-COVID-19 period in 2019. Enamel ± dentine fractures are the most common hard tissue dental injury in the permanent dentition. This study demonstrated that during this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was still the case. The relative frequencies of intrusions during the COVID-19 period was far higher than the corresponding period in 2019. The main causes for dental trauma during the COVID-19 period were falls and cycling, whereas in 2019, more traumas occurred playing sport, violence/assault, and road traffic accidents. The results suggest that the period affected the aetiology and diagnosis of traumatic dental injuries as well as patients' behaviours in seeking dental care.
The authors suggest that in order to suitably manage the provision of dental services, consideration must be given to the influence of pandemics on the characteristics of dental emergencies. While trends were evident in the collected data, these must be carefully interpreted.