Online consultation and emergency management in paediatric dentistry during the COVID‐19 epidemic in Wuhan: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background The COVID‐19 pandemic posed a great challenge to paediatric dentistry, which confronted with the restriction of service and resource shortage. Aim To retrospectively analyse the information of children's dental online health consultation during the COVID‐19 pandemic in China, and to provide methods to distinguish between dental emergencies and non‐emergencies as well as their management. Design We collected all the online consultation information in Dept. of Paediatric dentistry, School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, from 2 February to 31 March 2020, and extracted the information of age, gender, reason for consultation, description of symptom, and preliminary diagnosis of the children. Results A total of 474 online consultations of paediatric dentistry were included within 59 days during lockdown, and 190 (40.1%) were dental emergencies and 284 (59.9%) non‐emergencies. Of 190 emergency consultations, 186 (97.9%) showed swelling, pain, and trauma with or without systemic symptoms. Among 284 non‐emergency consultations, retained primary teeth (n = 126) and orthodontic consultation (n = 53) were the most common reasons for consultation. Conclusion The paediatric emergency and non‐emergency problems should be clearly distinguished and sufficient instructions provided in the special period of COVID‐19. Priorities also should be set to deal with urgent conditions after the release of lockdown.

Influence of COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric dental attendance

“…Severe dental pain from pulpal inflammation (% 15.96) and abscess/localized pain and swelling (% 12.06) were the most frequent reason for child patients’ urgent dental care attendance during the pandemic period, as well as during non-pandemic period, whereas visits regarding dental trauma were low. Our findings are in-line with previous researchers reporting dental pain from pulpal inflammation, abscess, or swelling as the most common reason for patients seeking treatment [ 9 , 10 , 17 – 19 ]. Although pulpectomy was situated as management of signs and symptoms related to dental pain and abscess/swelling during the non-pandemic period, extraction was preferred to refrain from the high risk of aerosols (Table 3 ).…”

“…ECC is one of the most common chronic diseases in pre-school children and affects both families and children's quality of life due to dental pain [21]. Similar to the research mentioned above [19], 0 ≤ 6 years age group attended to the paediatric dental clinic with severe dental pain more than the older age group during COVID-19. In spite of the pandemic derived fear and anxiety existence in parents, children are willing to seek urgent dental care when suffering from severe toothache.…”

Synchronous Telephone-Based Consultations in Teledentistry: Preliminary Experience of the Telehealth Brazil Platform

“…22 Therefore, teledentistry has been a good alternative for monitoring patients, limiting unnecessary human contact and displacement to major centers, reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19. [23][24][25] Two studies assessed the teleconsultations of the Brazilian Telehealth Program offered in Minas Gerais 9 and Rio Grande do Sul States. 4 Those articles comprised both asynchronous (text) and synchronous (videoconference) teleconsultations.…”

Kepemimpinan kepala sekolah dalam menjaga tata kelola sekolah selama masa pandemi Covid-19

“…Sekolah juga berinisiatif membuat poster-poster anjuran belajar dari rumah untuk memberikan pemahaman kepada siswa dan orang tua, terutama bagi siswa tingkat dasar. Hal ini bertujuan agar siswa tetap melaksanakan proses belajar mengajar meskipun tidak berada di sekolah (Nariman, 2021;Yang, Yu, Qin, Hua, & Song, 2021).…”

“…Hal ini didukung dengan hasil penelitian menunjukkan 54% siswa menggunakan aplikasi Whatsapp, 11% siswa menggunakan aplikasi google classroom dan zoom, serta 10% lainnya menggunakan kombinasi aplikasi google classroom, Zoom, dan Whatsapp (Bahasoan, Ayuandiani, Mukhram, & Rahmat, 2020;Wargadinata, Maimunah, Eva, & Rofiq, 2020). Dalam proses tata kelola sekolah terdapat tahapan manajemen meliputi aspek perencanaan, pelaksanaan, monitoring, dan evaluasi yang dilakukan oleh kepala sekolah dan seluruh personil sekolah (Yang, et al, 2021). Dari hasil analisis pada angket terbuka dapat dianalisis kinerja kepala sekolah dalam tata kelola disekolah di masa pandemi Covid-19 sebagai berikut:…”