Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, D-55131 Mainz, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 19;18(6):3164. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18063164.
An observational cross-sectional survey was planned to analyze the weekly workload reduction of German dentists during lockdown due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were predominantly members of the Free Association of German Dentists and filled in an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to a total of 9416 dentists, with a response rate of 27.98% ( = 2635). Respondents were divided into seven macro areas by gross domestic product. Nearly two-thirds of dentists (65.16%) reported a reduction in their practice workload of more than 50% compared to the pre-pandemic period with statistically significant differences between German macro areas ( < 0.01). Weekly workload was reduced during the lockdown in 93.00% of study participants, while 55.33% dental care centers with multiple employed dentists under the direction of a non-dentist general manager had only a 40% reduction in weekly workload compared to a solo practice or a practice of a dentist with an employed dentist (30.24% and 28.39%, respectively). Dentists in Germany drastically reduced their practice activity during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown, both in rural and urban areas. Short, medium, and long-term effects of the pandemic on dental practices, dental staff as well as patient care need to be further investigated.
一项观察性横断面调查旨在分析全球 COVID-19 大流行期间德国牙医因封锁而导致的每周工作量减少情况。参与者主要是德国自由牙医协会的成员，并填写了在线问卷。总共向 9416 名牙医发送了问卷，回复率为 27.98%（=2635）。受访者按国内生产总值分为七个宏观区域。近三分之二的牙医（65.16%）报告说，与大流行前相比，他们的实践工作量减少了 50%以上，德国各宏观区域之间存在统计学显著差异（<0.01）。在封锁期间，93.00%的研究参与者每周的工作量减少，而在有非牙医总经理管理的多名受雇牙医的 55.33%牙科保健中心每周的工作量仅减少了 40%，而与独奏实践或牙医实践相比（分别为 30.24%和 28.39%）。德国牙医在 COVID-19 封锁的第一波期间大幅减少了他们的实践活动，无论是在农村还是城市地区。大流行对牙科实践、牙科工作人员以及患者护理的短期、中期和长期影响需要进一步调查。
