The COVID-19 effect: number of patients presenting to The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals OMFS team with dental infections before and during The COVID-19 outbreak

This paper investigates the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak and closure of dental practices on the frequency and severity of dental infections presenting in our emergency department. We compared the mean number of daily emergency department referrals for dental abscesses in the two weeks prior to an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of oral & maxillofacial surgery 2020-07, Vol.58 (6), p.713-714
Main Authors: Long, L., Corsar, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
admission
Betacoronavirus
Coronavirus Infections
COVID-19
dental abscess
dental infection
Dentistry
Dentists
Disease Outbreaks
Humans
orofacial infection
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral
Professional Role
SARS-CoV-2
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Summary:This paper investigates the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak and closure of dental practices on the frequency and severity of dental infections presenting in our emergency department. We compared the mean number of daily emergency department referrals for dental abscesses in the two weeks prior to and following the Chief Dental Officer’s statement advising general dental practitioners to cease routine appointments, the mean number decreased from 1 to 0.37. In contrast, the severity and requirement for admission of these infections rose from 35% to 80%. This highlights the importance of the provision of local urgent dental centres during the COVID-19 outbreak in order to reduce pressure on secondary and tertiary care centres.
ISSN:0266-4356
1532-1940
DOI:10.1016/j.bjoms.2020.04.030