Psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on staff in a dental teaching hospital.

Introduction As COVID-19 rapidly developed across the UK, health services were forced to make radical changes. Within the dental department, all elective procedures were cancelled and staff members were redeployed to support other services within the trust. Studies have demonstrated increased prevalence of psychiatric disorders among healthcare workers during virus pandemics.Aims To assess the psychosocial implications of COVID-19 on members of the dental team working within a large dental teaching hospital.Methodology A survey comprising a series of questions (closed and open) and a Generalised Anxiety Disorder assessment (GAD-7) was distributed to members of the dental team between 1-3 April 2020.Results A total of 120 surveys were completed; 53.3% of respondents displayed symptoms of generalised anxiety. The highest average GAD-7 score was noted among dental nurses. The most common concern was the impact of COVID-19 on friends and family followed by personal health and nature of the disease.Conclusion(s) High anxiety levels and significant psychosocial implications were noted among dental staff during this virus pandemic. Our findings add to a growing body of data on the psychosocial impact of virus outbreaks on healthcare workers and highlight the importance of wellbeing initiatives for healthcare workers to be placed at the forefront of future pandemic crisis planning.

Provision of dental services at a single institution in the UK's epicentre during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on dentistry in the UK due to the perceived risks associated with infection control. These concerns have led to a complete paralysis of routine dental care with provisions for emergency dental care only, which have been scarce. Considering the latter, this article presents a service evaluation of a hospital-based acute dental care service, which was rapidly adapted and enhanced to continue managing dental emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis is based upon the dental diagnoses, management and geography of travel of over 1,500 attending patients in a five-week period during the rise and peak of COVID-19 in the UK. In addition, we assess our dental workforce's COVID-19 sickness reporting for those providing urgent dental care within this enhanced service. The article aims to provide additional and valuable frontline clinical information, experience and outcomes, including our categorisation of personal protective equipment used for varying face-to-face dental management during COVID-19.