Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the oral health status of paediatric dental patients in Greece.

Background: Limited evidence regarding the post-COVID-19 dental status of paediatric patients is available, with most studies assessing only children's oral health habits.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on the oral health of paediatric dental patients in Greece.

Design: This was a retrospective cohort study that included a questionnaire on children's oral health behavior and a clinical examination assessing dental caries and dental treatment needs using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System criteria, dmft/DMFT, and Treatment Need Index. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for a statistical comparison between questionnaire and clinical data before, during, and after the lockdown.

Results: A total of 102 children with a median age of 9 years were recruited from the current cohort of patients that had their last dental examination 6 months prior to the lockdown. Results from the questionnaire showed decreased brushing frequency with increased eating frequency and sugar consumption during the lockdown period (p < .001). Moreover, 16.5% had to visit the dentist for urgent care during the lockdown, 13.6% experienced dental pain, and 51.5% did not experience any dental emergencies. Clinical examination, after the lockdown, recorded significantly increased mean dmft/DMFT scores by 0.63 units in the primary dentition (p = .01) and 0.52 units in the permanent teeth (p = .002). Significantly higher treatment needs, with more carious lesions requiring extensive treatment after the lockdown, were recorded (p < .001).

Conclusion: The COVID-19 lockdown negatively affected children's oral health behavior: caries prevalence increased and more complex dental treatments were required.