Oral health assessment during Covid-19 pandemic: community self-report questionnaire

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic situation has affected community activities, work, income whichdecreased, psychological disorders such as stress, and limited accessibility to dental practice service,which is now for emergency cases only. This condition can affect oral health in the community. Thisstudy aimed to assess the oral health condition in the community during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thisstudy was implementing a cross-sectional research design. Data were obtained from onlinequestionnaires with the respondent's consent. The sample selection with inclusion criteria comprised 1960yearsoldwholivedinBandungWestJava.Theself-reportquestionnairefororalhealthassessmentwasfollowed,thepreviousresearch,byLevinetal.,2013.Ithasbeentrans-adaptedtoBahasaIndonesiaandvalidated.Respondentsofthestudywere380participants.Poororalhygienemaintenancewasthewrongfrequencyofbrushingteeth(12.1%),onlyvisitingthedentistwhenhavingatoothache(72.9%),andsmoking(7.9%).Oralhealthproblemsincludegingivalbleedingonbrushing(15.3%),toothmobility(13.2%),tooth cavities (62.9%), toothache (27.1%), and bad breath (22.6%). Most of the oral healthproblems were tooth cavities followed by toothache. The contributing factors include poor oral hygienemaintenance, improper brushing, smoking habits, and infrequent dental care. Furthermore, theaccessibility and availability of services in dental practice in the pandemic situation are limited.Therefore, it is reasonable to say that oral self-examination probably could minimize the distancingrelatedprobleminthisCovid-19pandemicsituationandbehelpfulintheearlydetectionoforalhealthproblems.KEYWORDS: assessment, Covid-19 pandemic, oral health

The Oral Health and Comorbid Diseases Knowledge Between Urban and Rural Community during Pandemic

“…The condition is highly correlated with QoL. Sprue prevention is by maintaining the body's immune and supported by good oral and body hygiene (Riad et al, 2021;Balafif et al, 2021). Thus, necessary to provide counseling materials regarding oral mucosal health and sprue for the community.…”

“…The pandemic period allows a person to experience stress, lack of nutritious food intake, and lack of body activity, making it possible to get certain oral mucosal diseases (Riad et al, 2021;Sinadios and Shelswell, 2020;Kitakawa et al, 2020). A study on the community dental and oral health status that had been carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a questionnaire, stated that many people complained about cavities and sore teeth (Balafif et al, 2021), but did not discuss oral mucosal diseases. The results of another study stated that community dental and oral health status was related to the stress conditions experienced related to mobility restrictions during the pandemic (Susanto et al, 2020).…”

The relationship between oral health and confidence of medan city residents after the COVID-19 booster vaccination: a descriptive study

“…In a study conducted in the city of Bandung during the pandemic, 67.1% of the population also had excellent oral health. 17 This difference can be attributed to the fact that the majority of respondents did not consume alcohol and followed a healthy diet. Diet significantly influences the condition of oral health in many ways.…”

“…The development of this questionnaire referred to the research conducted by Benson, et al, 4 and Balafif et al, 17 in which the questionnaire served as a tool to evaluate oral health, encompassing seven dimensions: efforts to maintain dental and oral hygiene, history of dietary consumption patterns, dental practitioner visits, history of calculus, history of smoking, history of alcohol consumption, and history of dental and oral diseases. Each dimension comprised specific items designed to assess various aspects of oral health behaviors and conditions.…”