Visits and procedures in an oral emergency service before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a 5-year time series analysis

Abstract

Objective: To analyze and compare trends in visits and procedures performed at an Oral Emergency Service during the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Longitudinal study analyzing 76,530 records of dental visits and procedures performed at the Dental Emergency Service in the municipality of Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, between January 2019 and October 2023. The time series were decomposed using LOESS to identify trends and seasonality. After adjusting the data for autocorrelation and removing the seasonal effect, control charts were constructed assuming a negative binomial distribution, and generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) were fitted, also assuming a negative binomial distribution. The chi-square test was used to assess the association between procedure type and year. A significance level of 5% was adopted. Result: In April 2020, visits decreased by 30.2% compared with the previous month and by 39.7% compared with the same month of the previous year. Procedures decreased by 29.1% compared with the previous month and by 39.5% compared with the same month of the previous year. Tooth extractions were the most frequent procedure in all years, accounting for approximately 73% of procedures, followed by temporary sealing of pulpal cavities, accounting for approximately 16%. Conclusion: Demand for emergency dental services declined sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a gradual recovery from 2021 onward.