IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON PATIENTS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS THEIR DENTAL NEEDS
The Covid-19 has changed the life of the entire world and its wave has affected all elds of medicine and dentistry. The concern about coronavirus transmission and dental practice has been widely recognized around the world.The purpose of this survey was to investigate the inuence of coronavirus disease on patients' views with regards to their dental treatment requirements. Materials and methods: It is a cross-sectional survey conducted over 430 patients seeking dental treatment in Ramaiah dental college and hospital Bangalore, Karnataka, India. This survey has been conducted through electronic communication applications such as WhatsApp and Gmail, for three months. A structured and validated questionnaire was administered to the study subjects. Collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. Results:Atotal of 1000 patients were selected for the survey, in this only 43% of subjects completed the survey. Out of 430 responses, 50.1% of the subjects had dental problems. 38.3% of subjects expressed the unavailability of dental clinics and hospitals during Covid-19, 31.4% unavailability of the dentist. Of the 42.9% of patients who visited the dental clinic during the covid-19 pandemic, 38% of subjects observed the increase in treatment cost, only 30.5% of subjects were provided with emergency treatment. The majority of subjects (75.7%) expressed that dentists are practicing good precautionary measures such as wearing PPE kits, mouth masks etc. Conclusion: During the coronavirus pandemic, the patients demonstrated good knowledge and an optimistic attitude towards the precautionary modications in regard to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in the dental setting.