scholarly journals Local Dental Emergencies and Mitigation Strategies Adopted by Private Dental Practitioners of South India during COVID-19 Shelter in Place Warning - Multi-Centric Online Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 384-390
Author(s):  
Tina Puthen Purayil ◽  
Kalyana-Chakravarthy Pentapati ◽  
Vidya-Saraswathi Muliya ◽  
Srikanth Gadicherla ◽  
Rajasekhar Nutalapati

Objective: To evaluate the common dental emergencies reported to dental practitioners and to compare the mitigation strategies implemented during the Shelter-In-Place (SIP) warning with dental practitioners’ age and sex. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among the dental practitioners of south India during the period of COVID-19 SIP warning. An initial pool of items was prepared to capture the mitigation strategies in managing local dental emergencies. A structured questionnaire was then prepared in English based on the inputs of four expert dentist panel. Age and sex of the practitioners were also recorded. Results: The mean age of the dental practitioners was 37.11(range: 23 - 63) years.Of 159 dental practitioners that responded to survey, 90 were male. Most dental practitioners responded that they were contacted through a phone call (n=140) and WhatsApp messaging (n=108). The common dental emergencies reported were tooth pain (100%), swelling (91.7%), a decayed tooth (81.3%), and gum pain (78.6%). A higher number of male than female dental practitioners had “scheduled the treatment immediately” (OR=3.45; P=0.002) after adjusting for age. Conclusion:The most common dental emergencies during COVID-19 SIP were tooth pain, swelling, decayed teeth, and gum pain. Males and older dental practitioners scheduled appointments immediately.

Author(s):  
Yasir. B. Elshambaty

Purpose this study aims to show the patterns and outcome of pediatric injury among those living in Albaha region in Saudi Arabia Methods this is a cross-sectional descriptive household-based study, included children between 0-17 years old both male and female. The data were collected with structured questionnaire between 20 Nov – 20 Dec 2018 and  analyzed with SPSS version 25 Results the total of participants was 257 injured child. 199(77.4%) are male and 58(22.6%) are female. About 44%of them were injured at pre-school level and 56% were traumatized at school age. The least incidence of injury occurred in those less than 2 yrs and higher incidence in those between 3-10 yrs old. The most common mechanism of injury was falling from height. The most affected group age by RTA accidents was 11-17 yrs old. Approximately 83% of the injured children required hospital management. Only one third of the injuries were  associated complications. The most common injured anatomic part was the upper limb and the least affected part was the spine. Only 5% of the injuries were associated with a disability and the common was loss of organ or part of it. Paralysis occurred in less than 1% and head injury resulted in disabilities more than 1%. Conclusion the vast majority of the injuries in our participants are not serious. The severe injuries were associated with RTA-related trauma. Most of injuries due to falling from height are not serious. We recommend not to allow the children to drive cars. Keywords: pediatric injuries; injury patterns; household.


Author(s):  
G. Sanjana ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan

Background: Loneliness can affect anyone at any point in their life. It can be detrimental to the wellbeing and quality of life of individuals and communities. In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness is considered as a public health crisis. Hence, the objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence of loneliness and family related factors associated with loneliness among general population in south India. Materials and Methods: The study employed a crosssectional online survey design. The data was collected in the first phase of the lockdown in 2020 from adults in Southern India. Socio-demographic profile and family related variables were collected using a semistructured proforma. Loneliness was assessed by UCLA loneliness scale. Results: Of 573 total respondents to the survey, aged between 18-65 years, 43% were male and 57% were female. The overall prevalence of loneliness was 63% (358/573). No significant gender differences were observed in the prevalence of loneliness. Family discord was associated with higher rates of loneliness (p less than 0.01). Other factors associated were younger age and being single. Conclusion: Rates of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown were high in Southern India. Findings suggest that interventions should prioritize younger people. Increasing social support and improving interpersonal skills, which in turn would help reduce family discord and may reduce the impact of COVID-19 on loneliness.


Author(s):  
Prabhav Kumar Iyer ◽  
Murugan Thamaraiselvan

Conscious sedation is a valuable approach to address anxious patients and treat them with the utmost comfort level. Thus the knowledge regarding the practice of conscious sedation among dental practitioners seems to be the need of the hour with increasing patient demands. This study aims to assess the knowledge, awareness and practice of conscious sedation for periodontal surgeries among dental practitioners. This questionnaire based study was conducted in the form of an online survey. A structured questionnaire with 20 questions in the area of its indications and contraindications, various drugs used in conscious sedation and the side effects of these drugs were included. The results showed that only 51% of the participants chose to use conscious sedation when dealing with anxious patients. Also 58.9% of the study population considered conscious sedation as an option when the patient is extremely uncooperative due to anxiety and for patients who have a lesser threshold of pain. 64.4% are aware that conscious sedation brings a partial loss of consciousness with response to verbal and physical stimulus. Within the limits of the study it can be concluded that there is a moderate level of awareness regarding practice of conscious sedation among the dental practitioner. Practitioners in urban and suburban areas who have recently graduated seem to have a better awareness and interest in practice of conscious sedation than others.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-171
Author(s):  
Romana Awan ◽  
Muhammad Faisal ◽  
Muhammad Asad Bilal Awan ◽  
Samra Khan ◽  
Kanwal Aamir ◽  
...  

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the level of adherence and possible barriers to secondary prophylaxis among patients with Rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Methodology: It is a cross-sectional study conducted at the largest tertiary care cardiac center of Karachi, Pakistan. We included patients with RHD, based on transthoracic echocardiography and adherence to the secondary prophylaxis and possible barriers were assessed using a structured questionnaire. Results: Among total of 195 patients 66.7% (130) were female, mean age was 32.25 ± 13.78 years. Rural residents were 51.3% (100) and 59.5% (116) of the patients were illiterate. Benzathine Penicillin injection was prescribed to 56.4% (110) patients, out of them 70.0% (77) of the patients were counseled regarding duration of secondary prophylaxis. The most common reason for non-adherence was reported to be a painful injection (19.1%). Conclusion: Majority of the RHD patients are not being prescribed and effectively counseled regarding secondary prophylaxis. Low adherence to the secondary prophylaxis was observed and the common reasons for non-adherence were painful injection, non-availability of nearby health facility, friends/family advising them otherwise, allergic reaction, and patients feeling sick and unable to take injection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (02) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
G. Sanjana ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan

Background: Loneliness can affect anyone at any point in their life. It can be detrimental to the wellbeing and quality of life of individuals and communities. In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness is considered as a public health crisis. Hence, the objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence of loneliness and family related factors associated with loneliness among general population in south India. Materials and Methods: The study employed a crosssectional online survey design. The data was collected in the first phase of the lockdown in 2020 from adults in Southern India. Socio-demographic profile and family related variables were collected using a semistructured proforma. Loneliness was assessed by UCLA loneliness scale. Results: Of 573 total respondents to the survey, aged between 18-65 years, 43% were male and 57% were female. The overall prevalence of loneliness was 63% (358/573). No significant gender differences were observed in the prevalence of loneliness. Family discord was associated with higher rates of loneliness (p less than 0.01). Other factors associated were younger age and being single. Conclusion: Rates of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown were high in Southern India. Findings suggest that interventions should prioritize younger people. Increasing social support and improving interpersonal skills, which in turn would help reduce family discord and may reduce the impact of COVID-19 on loneliness.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Kumar ◽  
Susmita Saxena ◽  
Mansi Atri ◽  
Sunil Kumar Chamola

India started its vaccination program at the beginning of 2021, the main beneficiaries being health workers and frontline workers including police, paramilitary forces, sanitation workers, and disaster management volunteers in the first phase. By the time, the second wave of Covid-19 impacted India, approximately 14 million healthcare and frontline workers, including dentists had been vaccinated. Aim: To study the effectiveness of vaccination on a subset of high-risk healthcare workers i.e. dentists in preventing Covid-19 during the second wave of the pandemic. Study design: A questionnaire based pan-India online survey was carried out to record the Covid-related experiences of dentists prior to and after vaccination. Result: During the second wave, 9.18% (n=364) respondents became positive in spite of the vaccine, while 14.69%(n=78) became positive in the unvaccinated group. A chi-square test of independence was performed to examine the relation between vaccination and the Covid positivity rate in all age groups. The relation between these variables was highly significant, [X2 (1, N = 4493) = 15.9809, p=.000064]. Conclusion: Our pan-India online survey inferred that vaccination has a definitive role to play in reducing the positivity rate amongst dentists during the second wave of the pandemic across all age groups.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 2063-2072
Author(s):  
Kayalvizhi Kumaravel ◽  
Praveen Kumar Ratavaru Sathyam ◽  
Rejili Grace Joy Manickaraj ◽  
Poonguzhali Sivagananam ◽  
Divya Ravikumar ◽  
...  

Background: COVID-19, the unprecedented deadly pandemic has turned the world topsy-turvy. It has affected all the people like poor and rich, young and old, educated and uneducated, male and female with detrimental consequences. People who are in quarantine and/or lockdown are likely to develop a wide range of symptoms like psychological stress, irritability, anxiety, depression etc. Hence, this study was undertaken to assess the psychological effects of COVID-19 lockdown among adult population residing in Chennai, India. This study is a cross sectional descriptive study carried out in Chennai, India. A structured questionnaire was developed containing 25 questions related to the emotional disturbance, depression, self-concept, physical problems, cognitive changes and role performance and 7 questions related to the demographics. An online survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. A total of 579 responses were received. The findings of the present study revealed that, among 579 respondents, more than half of the respondents 320(56.3%)were under severe psychological stress, 192(33.2%) respondents that is one third of the people had moderate psychological stress and remaining were having mild psychological stress. The study also revealed that there was a statistically significant association of psychological problems associated with demographic variables. Our Study revealed that people living in Chennai had severe psychological problem due to theCOVID-19 lockdown. This highlights the importance and immediate need for the development special intervention programmes for the people with psychological problems due to the COVID-19 lockdown.


Author(s):  
Morshed Nasir ◽  
A. S. M. Salauddin Chowdhury ◽  
Tahmina Zahan

Background: Self-medication is a common practice in Bangladesh as it provides a low-cost alternative for people, which involves inappropriate and injudicious use of medicines treat self-recognized symptoms by the people.Methods: A cross sectional online survey was conducted on 626 citizens by structured questionnaires during COVID-19 outbreak from April to May 2020 in Dhaka city, to observe the prevalence, pattern and sources of self-medication among the respondents with high socio-economic standings and education.Results: The prevalence of self-medication amid the outbreak of COVID-19 was 88.33% and only 179 (28.59%) took medication with doctors’ advice and remaining 447 (71.40%) respondents took the drugs as “self-medication” by other sources. The most frequently used prescription-only drug during the outbreak were ivermectin (77.15%), azithromycin (54.15%), doxycycline (40.25%). The common symptoms for which the respondent took self-medications were fever, throat pain, dry-cough and total 105 (16.77%) respondents took medications without having any symptoms. Almost 355 (85.33%) had taken medication without doing any test for COVID-19. This could be due to unusual distress, caused by high self-awareness of their health and buying capacity of medication.Conclusions: The study revealed the causes of self-medication as news of spread, effects and remedies in media channels, internet; mental stress of lockdown and isolation, insecurity and panic about scarcity of drug and healthcare support. High risks of developing antibiotic resistance, adverse drug reactions and financial loss was predictable with absence of strict regulatory enforcement to protect people and proper utilization resources during COVID-19 outbreak in Dhaka city.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhil Kant

Purpose This paper aims to assess the perceptions of stakeholders as regards the practices of Indian companies vis-à-vis climate change seeking underpinnings from stakeholder theory and collecting data using a structured questionnaire. Design/methodology/approach This paper used a descriptive analytical research design based on the data collected from a diverse sample of stakeholders of Indian companies through a cross-sectional, self-administered online survey questionnaire. Findings The study attaching significance to the stakeholders’ perception as a useful tool underscores that Indian companies have started to engage in preventive measures to minimize the externalities of climate crisis taking cognizance of the stakeholders’ interests amidst their increased awareness, also underlining that their perceptions substantially determine climate strategy proactivity (CSP) in their quest of competitive advantage beyond regulatory compliances. The study finds that incessant growth in the stakeholder awareness has not left companies to remain reluctant from analyzing effects and adopting suitable strategies in India also which, as a fast growing developing country, has witnessed immense growth in the post-liberalization era. Research limitations/implications This study would help decision-makers in businesses, policymakers, practitioners and standard-setters by providing further insights on the relevance of stakeholders’ perspectives in CSP in the developing countries. Stakeholders’ perceptions though representing varied categories hint that the actions beyond regulatory compliances need to be in focus in future studies. Originality/value The paper elaborates the significance of CSP in developing countries to eliminate the impact of inadequacies that previous studies undertook primarily in developed countries have failed in contextualizing these issues of developing countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
Jasbir D. Upadhyaya ◽  
Vimi Sunil Mutalik ◽  
Mê-Linh Lê ◽  
Dieter J. Schönwetter

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected dental professionals, thus contributing to adverse psychological outcomes. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the psychosocial state of American and Canadian dental practitioners, with special emphasis on their affective well-being (both during lockdown and after re-opening), behavioral impact and cognitive responses. Methodology: Dental practitioners in Canada and USA were invited to participate in an online survey after the initial lockdown period. The questions evaluated the pandemic’s effect on affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses. Results: A total of 587 practitioners completed the online survey. The strongest emotions experienced during the lockdown were sadness followed by fear. Female practitioners, those in the 35-44 age group, and those with less work experience reported higher scores on fear. Following lockdown, participants reported higher anticipation. Males expressed higher feelings of disgust and anger during both phases. Canadians were trustful of the situation in both phases of the pandemic, whereas the emotions of Americans were more towards disgust. About 56.7% practitioners provided teledentistry during lockdown, mainly through video calling, with Canadians being significantly more involved than the American participants. The highest scores for participants’ experiences during lockdown were for a lack of social interaction, followed by concern for contracting infection, and stress from distressing media coverage. Most practitioners were very receptive of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusions: The emotions and behaviors of dental practitioners varied significantly during and after the initial lockdown, highlighting their psychosocial state during the pandemic. The scarcity of literature focusing on these basic emotions during similar outbreaks calls attention for pursuing more research in these areas as they significantly contribute to the overall psychological health of professionals, especially in times of crises. Given the emotions reported by dental practitioners, it would be of value to develop standardized protocols and provide remote psychological support during such periods of uncertainty.


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