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ISSN 2063-5346
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A MARKER OF THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON DENTAL PATIENTS VISITING A DENTAL CARE CENTER โ€“ A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

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Dr. Ashish Choudhary1, Dr. Piyali Poddar2*, Dr. Shubhangi Gupta Law3, Dr. Maumita Bhattacharya4, Dr. Sumit Kumar5, Dr. Enakshi Banerjee6
ยป doi: 10.48047/ecb/2023.12.si10.00154

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown period led terror and anguish leading to mental distress among the common people. In addition to this, dental pain was also responsible to create addition to the pain and fear thus affecting the overall Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL). Aim: To assess the impact of dental pain, fear of COVID-19 and psychological distress on the OHRQoL of individuals visiting a dental care centre during COVID-19 pandemic. Materials & Method: This cross-sectional observational study was undertaken with a total of 460 patients (convenient sampling) who were asked to fill in the questionnaire between June 2021 to December 2021. The Covid-19 impact was assessed using Oral Health Impact Profile -14 (OHIP-14) with special emphasis to fear and distress scales respectively. Results: The results depicted that self-reported fear of COVID-19 (pain, DMFT score, FCV-19S and psychological distress was significantly higher among patients with poorer quality of life with [5% level of significance and P value < 0.001 and <0.005]. Multivariate Logistic regression to understand the adjusted associations of potential risk factors for OHRQoL showed the association of 5% significance level among all the covariates. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the present study that the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and DQ5 are strong and good psychometric instruments for assessing and alleviating fears and psychological distress of COVID- 19 among individuals.

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