Evaluation of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) awareness of patients undergoing dental interventions in Turkey.

Abstract

We aimed to objectively assess the COVID-19 awareness of the patients requiring dental interventions in our dental clinic by utilizing a newly generated questionnaire, which may serve helpfully in the hard battle against the pandemic in our country. This study included 306 volunteer adults who applied to our dental clinic for dental interventions during the early days of COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey. All patients responded to a newly created questionnaire composed of four sections with 19 questions those mostly assessing the social and demographic details; like the participant's age, gender, marital status, education status, medical history, basic dental hygiene habits, occupation, and general information about the COVID-19 infection and its protection methods. The outcomes of 306 participants revealed that their gender, age, and education status showed significant distinctions about the dissemination of coronavirus via dental interventions. Higher education status was linked to a loftier level of social awareness about the COVID-19 infection and its potential associations with dental interventions. It was observed that the participants were unsatisfactorily cautious against the COVID-19 infection and its dissemination pathways in their social environment, particularly in the specific case of systematic diseases and preventive measures. The primary way of obtaining information about the COVID-19 infection was the electronic websites. Deplorably, accentuating the urgent need for further intensive training programs on the relationship between the systemic diseases and COVID-19 infection, and explicit daily care methods in the social environment.