Resumption of brazilian oral medicine health care during the second period of the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Aim: This present study aims to compare the data from the Brazilian Unified Health System on the number of clinical consultations of Oral Medicine from the first 6 months (March-August 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil with the last 6 months (September-February 2020/2021) to update the data, verify the measures' effectiveness to return clinical activities in the following months. Methods: perform a literature review of recent articles that report the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Oral Medicine. Results: There was an increase in the number of Oral Medicine clinical consultations in the second half of the pandemic throughout Brazil (+64.2%), representing over 9,235 appointments in this period. Conclusion: measures for the return of health assistance and the practice of Telemedicine proved to be effective after the second period of the pandemic. Even so, strengthening security measures against the coronavirus is essential to ward off a new wave since the Omicron variant emerged in the country and, consequently, possible new lockdowns that might affect healthcare in Brazil