Has the Qovid-19 Epidemic Affected Children’s Oral Health Worldwide?

Abstract

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most parents have been afraid to go to dental offices. They don’t feel safe to refer for visits and dental treatments; consequently, after passing one year, we see the prevalence rate of dental decay and increasing dental abscesses, and extraction of teeth which could be preserved by implementing good oral hygiene. At the time of the COVID-19 epidemic, we saw a dramatic drop in pediatric visits and dental treatments. In a telephone survey we had at the Sepideh Dental Clinic, most parents emphasized that did not want to risk their children’s lives, even if they had suffered from toothache or dental problems. Interestingly, the majority of patients who sought treatment had dental insurance that did not want their insurance period to be expired. We also found that patients who had previously undergone dental treatment and had not been referred for a routine visit, at present that they were referred for dental treatment, had experienced severe dental caries and dental abscesses. The reason for this was stated by the parents being at home and the excessive consumption of snacks and sweets, even if they brushed once a day [1].