Abstract
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many dental care services including orthodontic practice were suspended. Orthodontic patients turned to social media platforms to communicate, share experiences, and look for solutions. Our study aimed to investigate the attitudes and perspectives of orthodontic patients during the COVID-19 epidemic in China by analyzing orthodontics-related posts on Sina Weibo (a Chinese counterpart of Twitter).Materials and Methods: Potentially eligible posts on Sina Weibo platform were collected between December 30, 2019, and April 18, 2020. Posts related to both orthodontics and COVID-19 were included and then coded and classified into specific appliances and themes. Geographic and temporal distributions of the included posts were analyzed. In addition, time-lagged cross correlation was performed to explore the association between the number of daily posts and daily new COVID-19 cases/deaths in China. Chi-square tests were employed to compare the differences between fixed appliances and aligners in problems/difficulties and feelings during the epidemic.Results: Of the 28,911 posts identified, 4,484 were included in the analysis. The most frequently mentioned themes were appointments (n = 2,621, 58.5%), negative feelings (n = 2,189, 48.8%), and problems/difficulties (n = 1,155, 25.8%). A majority of posts were tweeted in regions with high levels of economic development and population density in eastern China and from February to March. The number of daily posts had a significantly positive correlation with daily new COVID-19 cases/deaths in China (P < 0.05). Compared with clear aligners, patients with fixed appliances reported more problems/difficulties (P < 0.001) and negative feelings (P < 0.001), but fewer positive feelings (P < 0.001).Conclusions: The analysis of Weibo posts provided a timely understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on orthodontic patients. Delayed appointments were their greatest concern, and negative feelings and untreated orthodontic problems increased during the suspension of dental care services. However, patients with clear aligners reported fewer negative feelings and problems than those with fixed appliances. The findings highlighted the need to consider both treatment- and psychology-related issues of orthodontic patients and how to handle them appropriately during the epidemic.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly throughout the world and triggered a global pandemic after being discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 [1]
We identified 305 posts regarding oral myofunction or sleep disordered breathing, none of these posts were concerning orthodontics
As a result of the regulation of dental practice as well as travel restriction, orthodontic patients could not attend an appointment on a routine basis, leaving problems untreated and with consequences for a prolonged duration of treatment
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly throughout the world and triggered a global pandemic after being discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 [1]. The characteristics of dental practices, such as close face-to-face communication, droplet- and aerosol-generating procedures, and contaminated surfaces, expose dental patients and practitioners to high levels of pathogenic microorganisms and high risks of cross infection [3, 4]. Standard precautions are insufficient to protect practitioners and patients from the infection of COVID-19, which brings great challenges to dental services in this period [3]. After 2 months of effective antiepidemic efforts, China moved into a mitigation stage in April [5], and dental facilities began to gradually resume routine services under strict protective measures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many dental care services including orthodontic practice were suspended. Our study aimed to investigate the attitudes and perspectives of orthodontic patients during the COVID-19 epidemic in China by analyzing orthodontics-related posts on Sina Weibo (a Chinese counterpart of Twitter)
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