Prevalence of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Children Ages Seven to 10 Years: A Comparative Study Before and After COVID-19 Lockdown.

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of positive or potential sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in children ages seven to 10 years during two time periods: pre- and postCOVID-19 lockdown. Methods: Two groups of children with mixed dentition were consecutively recruited from two private pediatric dental practices in Southwestern Pennsylvania. All parents or guardians of the children were asked to complete the 22-question Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) as part of the routine medical history examination. High risk was defined as positive answers to 33 percent or more of the questions answered. Results: The overall sample had 183 males and 183 females. Between August 2016 and December 2017, the pre-COVID-19 lockdown period (PREL), 218 children were surveyed consecutively; 148 children were surveyed consecutively between September 2020 and March 2021, in the post-COVID-19 lockdown period (POSTL). Screening utilizing the PSQ identified 16.2 percent as high risk of SDB POSTL in contrast to 5.0 percent observed PREL (95 percent confidence interval [95% CI]=1.6 to 6.4; Pearson's chi-square test, P<0.001). There were no associations between sex or body mass index and high risk of SDB due to the lockdown. Conclusion: The results suggest a three-fold increase in the prevalence of positive or potential SDB subsequent to the commencement of the COVID-19 lockdown for this age group.

Prevalence of white spot lesions and risk factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence and persistence of white spot lesions (WSLs) among patients treated with traditional braces. METHODS: A group of 434 consecutively finished cases who had pretreatment and post-treatment digital photographs taken were included in this study. Each set of photographs was evaluated by two investigators to determine prepandemic and postlockdown WSLs, in addition to changes in oral hygiene (OH) and other risk factors. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in the development of WSLs pre-COVID-19 lockdown (PRL) versus post-COVID-19 lockdown (POL) (P < 0.001). The overall prevalence for the development of WSLs increased to 52.8% POL. For patients with good pretreatment OH, the risk of developing WSLs POL (42.0%) was two times greater than the rate in PRL (20.1%). For patients whose OH worsened during treatment, 81.2% of POL patients developed WSL compared with 69.6% of PRL patients. The incidence of WSLs was statistically greater in the maxillary anterior region POL than PRL, whereas the incidence in the mandibular anterior region did not reach statistical significance. The distribution of WSLs was greater POL for each tooth irrespective of the arch. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of visible WSLs increased from 29.5% to 52.8%. Patients whose hygiene worsened during orthodontic treatment are at an increased risk of developing WSLs.