Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Piracicaba, Brazil.
Public Health School, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
BMC Prim Care. 2024 Feb 27;25(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02315-6.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant changes to dental care, which may have affected pediatric dental care offered in primary healthcare settings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the quantity of dental procedures performed in primary healthcare for children aged 6 to 12 years, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is an ecological study using data from the health information system of Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The variables considered were: coverage of first programmed dental consultation, restoration of permanent and deciduous teeth, topical fluoride application (individual per session), emergency care, and deciduous tooth extraction. Two periods were considered: period I (March 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020) and period II (April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021), before and during the pandemic, respectively. Comparisons between periods were made using the paired nonparametric Wilcoxon test with a significance level of 5%.
There was an increase in emergency care from 15.4 to 32.4% (p = 0.0095) and a decrease in the number of restorations of deciduous teeth from 32.8 to 20.2% (p = 0.0217). The first programmed consultation showed a decrease of 9.60% (p = 0.0930) in period II.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hindered access to primary dental care for children, impacting the quantity of emergency care, reducing restorations of deciduous teeth, and first programmed dental consultations. These findings highlight the need for strategies to ensure that pediatric dental care is not neglected during pandemics.
新冠疫情给牙科护理带来了重大变化，可能影响了初级保健机构提供的儿科牙科护理。因此，本研究旨在分析儿童（6-12 岁）在新冠疫情前后，初级保健中进行的牙科治疗数量。
这是一项利用巴西皮拉西卡巴健康信息系统数据进行的生态研究。所考虑的变量包括：首次计划牙科就诊的覆盖率、恒牙和乳牙的修复、局部氟化物应用（每次个体）、急诊治疗和乳牙拔除。考虑了两个时期：时期 I（2019 年 3 月 1 日至 2020 年 2 月 29 日）和时期 II（2020 年 4 月 1 日至 2021 年 3 月 31 日），分别在疫情前后。使用配对非参数 Wilcoxon 检验进行两个时期之间的比较，显著性水平为 5%。
急诊治疗从 15.4%增加到 32.4%（p=0.0095），乳牙修复数量从 32.8%减少到 20.2%（p=0.0217）。第二期的首次计划咨询减少了 9.60%（p=0.0930）。
新冠疫情阻碍了儿童获得初级牙科护理，影响了急诊治疗数量，减少了乳牙修复和首次计划牙科就诊。这些发现强调了在大流行期间确保儿科牙科护理不被忽视的策略的必要性。
