Survey data on dental treatment during the covid-19 outbreak at Patna in the state of Bihar, India

Abstract

It is of interest to assess the level of knowledge on dental treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic at Patna, Bihar, India. The study population consisted of Indian subjects with a minimum qualification of high school. An online questionnaire was sent to a sample of 650 subjects consisting of both male and female in March 2020. The questionnaire comprised of a series of questions about subjects’demographic characteristics; their awareness of the COVID-19 and their perception towards dental treatment. This study included a total of 650 members aged 20-70 years (mean 36.9 years with a standard deviation of 10.5 years) participants. A total of 446 subjects responded to questionnaire. A total of 29.1% subjects had completed their masters, 52.2% had knowledge of corona virus from news, and 30.5% had read about COVID-19 from official websites. A total of 71.3% participants showed reluctance in undertaking dental treatment during pandemic. The majority of participants (60.5%) believed that dental setups could be a potential source of infection of COVID-19 and thus avoided visiting dentists. Most of them (69.7%) adhered to medicines instead of dental treatment. Most of them (96.6%) agreed not to hide any symptoms of COVID-19 from the dentist. 54.7% agreed to undergo a screening test for the virus. 93.7% participants refrained from cosmetic and aesthetic procedures during pandemic and 54.7% believed that at these unprecedented times would affect the cost of dental procedures. Subjects were aware of COVID-19 symptoms, mode of transmission of the virus, screening test and in-home precautions/measures to be taken. However, subjects had limited comprehension of the extra precautionary measures that protect them during dental procedures. It should be noted that most of them refrained from visiting dentists and avoided aesthetic procedures.