COVID-19 and Associated Concerns among Dental Surgeons of Maharashtra-A Questionnaire Based Survey

Background: The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has tremendously affected dentistry as a whole. With increasing COVID-19 cases in India, hospitals and doctors have been facing the brunt of the crisis. While government hospitals treating COVID-19 are limited, private hospitals are charging unimaginable rates. It has become the biggest challenge to accommodate the increasing number of cases. Dentists have been confined to their homes, due to the high risk nature of the profession. Dentistry has become one of the peak professions at risk of transmission of the virus. With this increase in risk, dental profession is facing heavy fallout and dentists all over the country are concerned about the effects of this pandemic on the future of dentistry. Aim: This survey aims to analyze the concerns associated with COVID-19 among the dental surgeons of Maharashtra. Methodology: A sample of 208 participants (dentists) was taken after assessing the sample size within the age group of 25-45 years of age. The participants comprised of dentists practicing in various parts of Maharashtra. A questionnaire was created on Google forms and circulated to participants using various social media platforms. The data of responses of participants were analyzed and evaluated with the help of pie charts. Results: This survey analyzed the major concerns of dental surgeons and tried to evaluate the various areas of anxiety. Majority of the participants believed that dentists were at higher risk of contracting the virus than any other healthcare professionals and they also would be a major reason for transmitting the infection to their patients. The also believed the fact that wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) did not guarantee them safety against the virus. Majority of the dentists felt that the pandemic has affected dentistry as a career and that practicing dentistry amidst COVID-19 was not safe. However, the participants were also of the opinion that, the pandemic did not turn dentistry into any less of a lucrative branch. The participants asserted that changing PPE after every patient was mandatory and that the patients should be charged an extra amount for the same. The most highlighting feature of this study was that COVID-19 affected the monetary income of majority of the dentists, considerably reduced their patient flow and most of them reported of working for lesser hours per day due to the pandemic. Conclusion: This questionnaire based survey clearly helped in assessing the common concerns among the dental surgeons of Maharashtra associated with COVID-19. Although the pandemic posed various drawbacks and threats to the profession of dentistry, it still stands out being one of the most lucrative specialties of healthcare.