Changes in dental and medical visits before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic among U.S. children aged 1–17 years

Abstract

Objectives The COVID‐19 pandemic has tremendously impacted the U.S. healthcare system, but no study has examined the impact of the pandemic on utilization of dental care among U.S. children. Changes in past‐year dental versus medical visits and perceived unmet health needs between 2019 and 2020 among U.S. children aged 1–17 years were examined. Methods National and state representative, cross‐sectional data from the National Survey of Children's Health conducted during June 2019–January 2020 (i.e. pre‐pandemic, n = 28 500) and July 2020–January 2021 (i.e. intra‐pandemic, n = 41 380) were analysed. Any past‐year visit and perceived unmet needs (i.e. delay or inability to receive needed care) were reported by the parent proxy. Weighted prevalence estimates were compared using two‐tailed chi‐squared tests at p < .05. Poisson regression analyses were used to explore the relationship between having dental and/or medical unmet needs during the pandemic and indicators of poor health and social wellbeing. Results Between 2019 and 2020, a significantly reduced prevalence of past‐year medical (87.2%–81.3%) and dental visits (82.6%–78.2%) among U.S. children aged 1–17 years (all p < .05) were observed. Correspondingly, perceived unmet needs increased by half for dental care (from 2.9% in 2019 to 4.4% in 2020) and almost one‐third for medical care (from 3.2% to 4.2% in 2020). Subgroups with the highest prevalence of unmet dental need included those with low socio‐economic status, living with their grandparents, uninsured and living with a smoker. Conclusions Unmet health needs increased in general but increased more for dental than for medical care among U.S. children aged 1–17 years. Enhanced and sustained efforts will be needed to deliver targeted services towards disadvantaged segments of the population to narrow existing disparities.

Psychosocial Risk Exposure Limits Routine Pediatric Oral Health Care

“…There are reports suggesting that unmet health needs increased during COVID-19 pandemic in general; however, they increased more profoundly for dental than for medical care among U.S. children aged 1–17 years. 35 A recent report on U.S. children's oral health and oral health care suggests that there was a widespread decline in children's oral health status and access to oral health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. 36 Our findings comport with those from the National Survey of Children's Health (2018–2020); our finding suggests that COVID-19 had a similar effect on routine care visits and research visits.…”

Changes in the Utilization of Outpatient and Visiting Dental Care and Per-attendance Care Cost by Age Groups During COVID-19 Pandemic Waves in Japan: A Time-series Analysis From the LIFE Study

“…5 Previous studies reported dental visit avoidance during the COVID-19 pandemic periods. [6][7][8][9] Research conducted in Japan reported that the decrease in dental visits was limited to the short term after the outbreak. 10 Although the avoidance of dental visits is considered to differ according to the patient's susceptibility to Sars-CoV-2 infection (i.e., age or comorbidity), few previous studies have investigated the heterogeneity of dental visit avoidance during the COVID-19 pandemic by the patients' characteristics.…”

Time series analysis of COVID-19's impact on physician and dentist visits in Iran

“…Because of these restrictions care needed to be offered in different ways such as via telemedicine. Research has demonstrated changes in hospital admission rate, bed occupancy rate, average hospital stay duration, emergency department visits, and physician and dentist visits 1 – 7 . In addition, demand for providing services remotely and through telemedicine has increased after the pandemic 8 , 9 .…”

“…The overwhelming demand of the public health emergency led to the deferring of regular preventive care and maintenance of non-critical conditions which were considered non-essential 14 . However, while the impact of COVID-19 on physician and dentist visits has been extensively studied 7 , 15 , 16 , its specific effects on these types of health services have not yet been examined in Iran either at the national or subnational levels. This analysis identifies opportunities for more effective and efficient support of the healthcare workforce, systems, and patient care delivery for future public health crises across a lower and middle income country.…”