Background: COVID-19 poses a major public health calamity. Its wider impact on health service utilization is yet to be studied. The study aims to assess dental problems faced by patients during the COVID-19 outbreak and the possible reasons in failing to seek dental careMethods: A cross-sectional quantitative-qualitative design was employed to assess the outcomes among patients reporting to a tertiary care centre. Participants were selected by convenient sampling and interviewed using structured questionnaire. Responses were transcribed, translated and coded before analyzing for the themes by thematic analysis. Quantitative component of the study was analyzed by descriptive and inferential methods. Result: Mean age of the participants was 43.7 years (SD: 16.1). Most of them (63%) reported not having had an oral examination in the past year while 62% reported being unable to seek dental treatment during the pandemic. Pain, sequelae of pain and other self-perceived urgent causes were identified as the major problems faced by the participant. Similarly, the reasons for not being able to seek dental treatment were grouped as fear of transmission, lack of transportation and lockdown, unavailability of health services, misinformation, lack of communication from hospital regarding its services, and deferred treatment by the hospitals. Conclusion: Pain remains the ultimate trigger for care seeking behaviour. Dental service utilization was reported to be influenced by a number of factors during COVID-19. The pandemic seemed to add up to the already pre-existing dilemma in seeking dental care. A conceptual framework has been suggested to aid further researches in the future for looking into the impacts from such pandemics.
Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak in Dental Service Utilization Reported by Patients Visiting a Tertiary Care Centre: Mixed Quantitative-qualitative Study