The COVID-19 pandemic and its possible impact on the treatment of odontogenic and intraoral abscesses

Abstract

Most odontogenic and intraoral abscesses can be treated on an outpatient basis with local anesthesia. However, severe disease progression may require an incision under general anesthesia (GA) with postoperative inpatient treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the first “COVID-19 year” in Germany and compare the first “COVID-19 year” with the two previous years. All consecutive cases with odontogenic or intraoral abscesses treated in an outpatient or inpatient setting between 2018 and 2021 were included in this study. Data were collected, including the type of anesthesia, length of hospital stay, and healthcare costs. Despite the lower total number of abscess treatments in the first year of COVID-19 (n = 298 patients) than that in the two previous years (n = 663 patients), the number of advanced abscesses requiring intervention under GA was significantly higher (p < 0.001). This increased burden of care was also reflected in increased healthcare costs. The measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the course of other diseases, for example, odontogenic and intraoral abscesses. The results showed an emerging conflict in patient care during the pandemic crisis that should be considered in possible future pandemics.

Dynamic Trends in Surgical Oromaxillofacial Trauma Epidemiology: A Comparative Study of Pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 Periods in Tertiary Referral Hospitals in Madrid

“…Marchant et al [22] found that while the severity of maxillofacial fractures decreased postpandemic and the overall incidence remained the same, Hispanic and firearm-caused maxillofacial fractures increased. This decrease in the severity of trauma has been validated in multiple studies [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], with differences found in published studies on the increase or decrease in emergency department attendance by age group [33][34][35][36]. A possible effect during the most severe moments of the pandemic was the lower willingness to seek medical attention in subacute maxillofacial processes (such as precancerous lesions, cancer, or infections) and the prognostic implication that this implied [30,37].…”