Dental Workload Reduction during First SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Wolf, Thomas Gerhard; Deschner, James; Schrader, Harald; Bührens, Peter; Kaps-Richter, Gudrun; Cagetti, Maria Grazia; Campus, Guglielmo (2021). Dental Workload Reduction during First SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Survey. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(6) MDPI 10.3390/ijerph18063164

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An observational cross-sectional survey was planned to analyze the weekly workload reduction of German dentists during lockdown due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were predominantly members of the Free Association of German Dentists and filled in an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to a total of 9416 dentists, with a response rate of 27.98% (n = 2635). Respondents were divided into seven macro areas by gross domestic product. Nearly two-thirds of dentists (65.16%) reported a reduction in their practice workload of more than 50% compared to the pre-pandemic period with statistically significant differences between German macro areas (p < 0.01). Weekly workload was reduced during the lockdown in 93.00% of study participants, while 55.33% dental care centers with multiple employed dentists under the direction of a non-dentist general manager had only a 40% reduction in weekly workload compared to a solo practice or a practice of a dentist with an employed dentist (30.24% and 28.39%, respectively). Dentists in Germany drastically reduced their practice activity during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown, both in rural and urban areas. Short, medium, and long-term effects of the pandemic on dental practices, dental staff as well as patient care need to be further investigated.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > School of Dental Medicine > Department of Preventive, Restorative and Pediatric Dentistry

UniBE Contributor:

Wolf, Thomas Gerhard, Campus, Guglielmo Giuseppe

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1661-7827

Publisher:

MDPI

Language:

English

Submitter:

Thomas Gerhard Wolf

Date Deposited:

12 Apr 2021 13:58

Last Modified:

07 Aug 2024 15:45

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/ijerph18063164

PubMed ID:

33808537

Uncontrolled Keywords:

COVID-19; dental practice; economic; dental practice; dentist; Germany; global pandemic; reduction; SARS-CoV-2; workload

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/154483

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/154483

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