Does the use of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic impact on oral hygiene habits, oral conditions, reasons to seek dental care and esthetic concerns?

Abstract

Background To evaluate the impact of the use of face masks on oral hygiene habits; oral conditions self-perception; reasons to seek dental treatment; and esthetic concerns. Material and Methods 1346 participants answered a web-based survey with questions related to the aims of the study. Descriptive statistic was performed and the responses were analyzed with chi-square test and regression analysis. Results With the use of masks, toothbrushing frequency decreased significantly, and people are significantly less concerned about oral hygiene. The number of subjects that reported to have halitosis increased significantly and this was associated with a decrease in toothbrushing frequency. The greatest complaints of subjects were teeth color and alignment. The prevalence of bruxism increased significantly. Overall, 94.1% considered that esthetics is important to seek dental care even with the use of masks, and 84.2% are maintaining usual periodic dental care. People are significantly less concerned with their smile and dental esthetics with the use of masks. Conclusions With the use of face mask, people must be motivated regarding maintaining oral hygiene habits. Some respondents will seek dental care only when masks were no longer necessary, therefore dentists must be aware of a reduction in the volume of patients. Key words: Dental health surveys, esthetics, oral hygiene, dental care, COVID-19, behavior.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Effect of Different Face Masks on Self-Perceived Dry Mouth and Halitosis

“…Thus, both null hypotheses must be rejected. Results are in line with previous studies which also found face masks to impact on self-perceived dry mouth [7,8] and halitosis [7,13,14]. Largest differences were observed between the items "mouth feels dry" and "lips feel dry", most probably as wearing face masks is likely to change the breathing pattern.…”

COVID-19: The Patients' Perceived Impact on Dental Care

“…This condition can decrease or worsen social communication. 26 Furthermore, 246 (24.4%) participants believed that wearing a mask diminished the beauty of their smile; specifically, 76.8% (189/246) of them were females (p ¼ 0.001). The result and the association with women are confirmed and can also be explained by a study concluded that women really missed looking at people's smile because of its importance in social relationships.…”

“…Similarly, Pinzan-Vercelino et al noted that individuals had a lower frequency of tooth brushing and this was closely associated with an increased prevalence of halitosis. 26 Since the beginning of the pandemic period, there has been a change in eating habits. This has been due to various factors in particular stress and anxiety, greater sedentariness given by smart working, regulations that have reduced people's movements, and changes in the availability of food during the day.…”

The impact of Covid-19 pandemic over the dental patients

“…Many of patients were seeking dental care in hospitals in the first months of the pandemic where many procedures were practiced according to the clinical practice guideline (Wu et al, 2021). In the literature, it was stated through a web-based survey that the patients are less concerned with their dental health, as they are still wearing masks, patients show less demand of the dental health care (Pinzan-Vercelino et al, 2021;Ribeiro et al, 2021). In the present study, it was found that 100% of the participants seek dental health care, however, the questionnaire was destinated for patients at dental office or dental clinic of a school.…”