Orthodontic treatment in times of Covid-19.

ABSTRACT

During the first two months of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, Romania was in lockdown, and all dental practices were closed, so orthodontic patients had to postpone their check-ups for at least eight weeks. This led not only to a delayed end of treatment but also to accidents and complications. The present study tried to evaluate the orthodontic situation both from the patient's and orthodontist's point of view, so the patients were given a few questions to answer, and the orthodontist analyzed each treatment before and after the two-month lockdown and decided if it was mildly or severely affected by the absence of check-ups. The study group consisted of 105 patients evaluated by three orthodontists in the same private practice. Patients that have gotten worse after the lockdown or who had problems were included in the study. Also, all the patients were given a 7-question form in order to find out their opinion. After two months without check-ups, our orthodontists found that 9.52% got worse because of the lack of intermaxillary elastics, broken brackets, broken removable orthodontic appliances, and others. Most of the patients believe that their treatment was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but none of the patients felt unsafe when visiting the clinic. The Covid-19 pandemic had severe effects on orthodontic treatments. Orthodontists noticed a delay for about one-third of their patients. However, from the patient's point of view, half believe that their treatment was negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in different degrees.