Perceived Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Practitioners: A Bi-Country Survey

Objective COVID-19 resulted in dentistry being declared high-risk occupation due to the mode of the spread of the virus. This resulted in partial and complete closure of dental practices around the world, reducing revenue of practitioners. Hence, study aims to evaluate financial impact on dental practitioners in Pakistan and UAE. Materials and Methods A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2020 to January 2021. It involved questions relating to demographics and financial challenges faced, associated with change in standard operating procedures due to pandemic. The descriptive statistics were expressed as frequency and percentage. Statistical analysis was performed by Chi-square test or Fischer's exact test. Results In total, 427 respondents participated in the study. Approximately half (55.7%) of the respondents had their practices shut down, while 89.9% observed decrease in patient flow. The majority (82.2%) of respondents had to buy personal protective equipment (PPE), whereas 66.7% had to pay a high cost for that. Almost 87.3% of respondents reported having experienced financial constraints because of the pandemic related changes to the practice. Moreover, 27.8% reported staff being laid off, which were mostly due to monetary constrictions. Conclusion Dental professionals faced a considerable impact on their practice and financial situation due to pandemic. Policies must be made to support such professionals in times of emergency who are at higher risk of being most affected with respect to health and finances. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Accuracy and perceptions of teledentistry in KSA during the COVID-19 pandemic: A single-centre randomised controlled trial.

Objective: Teledentistry conveniently delivers dental care when in-person visits are restricted, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess Saudi Arabian patients' accuracy, perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and challenges regarding teledentistry used for diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its accuracy, versus traditional dental visits. Methods: A single-blind, parallel-group randomised controlled trial design was used. The 70 participants were randomised equally into study and control groups. While the control group waited, the study group received teledentistry diagnoses which were compared with baseline clinical examinations retrieved from the UQU dental hospital, Makkah, KSA. After the intervention was completed, all participants answered a questionnaire. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups in knowledge or attitudes regarding teledentistry. However, study group participants had more favourable experiences with teledentistry. They reported good accuracy with diagnosis and recording of their chief complaints (74.3%), number of missing teeth (74.3%), number of filled teeth (71.4%), and oral hygiene status (65.7%). Additionally, moderate accuracy was reported on recording of health complaints (51.4%) and number of decayed teeth (40.?%). The number of decayed teeth and the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMF) index scores reported using teledentistry were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than reported in the baseline examinations. Conclusion: Teledentistry is widely accepted by patients and can be efficient for preliminary examinations, particularly during pandemic lockdowns or in more frequently occurring situations such as severe weather conditions, but subsequent clinical examination is necessary for maximally accurate diagnoses.

Neuro-POMS: validation of a dedicated tool for the assessment of early post-operative morbidity in neurosurgery

Objectives: The Post-operative Morbidity Survey (POMS) identifies post-operative morbidity in patients undergoing elective major surgery. The POMS was useful in various surgical fields including neurosurgery;however, a dedicated neurosurgical version of the POMS is not available. This study describes the creation, validation process, and utility of a dedicated neurosurgical POMS: the neuro-POMS. Design: Single-centre retrospective study including a consecutive series of patients undergoing major neurosurgical cranial procedures over three months (pre-COVID). Methods: Data on post-operative morbidity was collected and used to design a dedicated Neuro-POMS. The Neuro- POMS was applied to the same patient group by an independent assessor who was blinded to the initial data collection. Results of the generic POMS and neuro-POMS were compared. Results: One hundred and forty-seven patients (mean age 52, 90 females) underwent major cranial neurosurgery during the study period. The neuro-POMS assessment revealed early post-operative morbidity in 65% of the patients on a postoperative day 3 and 57% on day 8. The sensitivity of neuro- POMS was significantly higher compared to the generic version of the POMS (Fisher exact tests p < 0.001 for day 3 and p = 0.03 for day 8). Additionally, morbidity detected by the neuro-POMS allowed early prediction of the overall postoperative length of stay. Every positive item of the neuro- POMS on day 3 predicted an increase of 1.7 days in the overall length of stay (linear regression, p < 0.001, 95%CI 1.2-2.1). For day 8, the predicted increase in length of stay was 3.2 days (linear regression, p < 0.001, 95%CI 2.5-3.7). Conclusions: Neuro-POMS is a valuable tool for the early detection of post-operative morbidity after cranial neurosurgery. It is more sensitive than POMS in detecting morbidity and can predict overall hospital length of stay. Neuro-POMS could also be useful in the management of hospital beds.