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KMID : 1812220220060010005
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Journal of The Korean Academy of Sports Dentistry
2022 Volume.6 No. 1 p.5 ~ p.11
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The analysis of the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on traumatic dental injuries
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Nah Jeung-Seon
Chae Yong-Kwon
Lee Ko-Eun
Kim Mi-Sun
Nam Ok-Hyung
Lee Hyo-Seol
Choi Sung-Chul
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Abstract
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Objectives: Traumatic dental injury (TDI) damages teeth and surrounding periodontal tissues that can be occurred by various causes such as falls, collisions, traffic accidents, violence, and sports. As coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) spread rapidly, since its first outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, the nationwide social distancing including restrictions on the use of leisure facilities and outdoor activities was implemented in Korea, since March 22, 2020. Considering the causes of TDI, the limitation of outdoor activities and changes to a non-face-to-face era may have affected the pattern of patient visiting the hospital with dental trauma. This study was conducted to quantify and analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the characteristics of TDIs patients.
Materials and Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed the medical records of the patients with TDI who attended the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Kyung Hee Dental Hospital, Seoul, Korea between 2018 and 2022. The TDI patients were divided into 2 groups: pre-COVID-19 group (from Mar. 2018 to Feb. 2020; n=719), COVID-19 group (from Mar. 2020 to Feb. 2022; n=343). Several factors such as gender, age, cause, place and TDI types were analyzed using the independent samples t-test, Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test.
Results: As a result of investigating whether TDI decreased due to COVID-19, the number of TDI patients diminished by more than half, while the total number of patients decreased by only 6.0%. Also, the number of TDI patients was outstandingly small in every specific month of the first to fifth waves of COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of COVID-
19 patients increased steeply or social distancing was strengthened. The number of TDI patients had a greater decrease in female than in male. The M/F ratio in the pre-COVID-19 group was 1.88:1, and in the COVID-19 group, 1.98:1. The mean age of TDI patients was 4.75 ± 3.06 years and the most prevalent age group was 3-6 years old, followed by 0-3 years old in both groups. In regards to the places of TDI, the proportion of outdoor or indoor leisure facilities decreased by half in COVID-19 group, compared to pre-COVID-19 group, as the TDIs at home accounted for a high proportion. Conversely, there was no significant difference in the distribution of gender, age, cause and type of TDIs between pre-COVID-19 group and COVID-19 group.
Conclusion: Based on these results, it can be said that COVID-19 affected the frequency of the occurrence rather than the characteristics of TDI patients. There was no significant change in the total number of patients visiting the hospital, but the number of TDI patients decreased significantly by half. In other words, COVID-19 has lowered the incidence of trauma. On the other hand, COVID-19 did not significantly affect the ratio of TDI patients by gender, age, cause and type of TDIs.
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KEYWORD
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COVID-19, Pattern of patient attendance, Social distancing, Traumatic dental injuries
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