Abstract
Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to changes in the dental needs of the population and new challenges concerning oral health care. Methods: The Google Trends tool was used to collect data on the Internet search interest. The investigated material was collected from 1 January 2020 to 23 August 2020. Search terms “toothache”, “dentist” and “stay at home” were retrieved for the whole world as well as for the US, the UK, Poland, Italy and Sweden. Results: During the lockdown, correlation analysis indicates the lowest public interest in the word “dentist” one week preceding the peak for “toothache”, followed by an increase in the word search for “dentist”. On 12 April, worldwide, the maximum of Google Trends Relative Search Volume (RSV) for “toothache” was observed. Conclusion: Decrease in “dentist” queries during lockdown followed by an increase in “toothache” search predicts greater dental needs in the post-pandemic period. The surveillance shows significant changes in queries for dental-related terms during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to prepare for future pandemic outbreaks teledentistry programs should be taken into consideration.
Highlights
In 2017, The Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that close to 3.5 billion people worldwide were affected by oral diseases, with caries of permanent teeth being the most common condition.Globally, 2.3 billion people suffered from caries of permanent teeth and about 530 million children suffered from tooth decay of the primary teeth [1]
Decrease in “dentist” queries during lockdown followed by an increase in “toothache” search predicts greater dental needs in the post-pandemic period
We found a decrease in Relative Search Volume (RSV) Google Trends for the word “dentist” with a significant increase in the search for “toothache” after a short period of time (Figures 2–7)
Summary
In 2017, The Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that close to 3.5 billion people worldwide were affected by oral diseases, with caries of permanent teeth being the most common condition. 2.3 billion people suffered from caries of permanent teeth and about 530 million children suffered from tooth decay of the primary teeth [1]. In 2018, there were 355,000 cases of oral cancer all over the world which caused 177,000 deaths [2]. World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). As of 31 August 2020, more than 25.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in more than 1,131,000 deaths. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to changes in the dental needs of the population and new challenges concerning oral health care. Search terms “toothache”, “dentist” and “stay at home” were retrieved for the whole world as well as for the US, the UK, Poland, Italy and Sweden
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