Covid-19 pandemic and clinical activity stop: oral health study in a group of children

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ABSTRACT

Aim

Public and private health services, which provide both preventive and health promotion interventions, were forced to suddenly stop their activities to limit the risk of infections during the pandemic emergency. Oral health administration, including that of children, was affected by these planned medical service closures, from both therapeutic and preventive perspectives. This study aims to analyse the consequences, at the oral cavity level, of failures to treat patients of childhood age, considering the impact of carious pathology on quality of life and incorrect eating and oral hygiene habits, which may occur in this age group.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional, single-center, observational study. One hundred patients from the Odontostomatological University Center (C.O.U.) of Perugia were randomly enrolled.

Results

The dmft/DMFT index values obtained from the results of follow-up visits were 2.14, while the results of the first visit was 3.2. Periodontal Screening and Recording (PSR) values maintained the same trend.

Conclusion

Oral health status of the examined sample is satisfactory overall, considering the clinic’s interruption of treatments with the resulting long period of no follow-up and the emotional and economic stress generated by the pandemic condition for both the young patients and their caregivers.

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