Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on Dentistry: A Retrospective Study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare patient admissions, treatment needs, and treatments in our hospital before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: The patients who presented to Karabuk Oral Dental Health Training and Research Hospital between March 2019 and March 2021 were retrospectively evaluated. The data obtained were used to compare the 1-year process after the Covid-19 pandemic and the 1-year process before the Covid-19 pandemic. In this 2-year period, the number of hospital registrations, distribution of patients by gender, age data, type, and the number of procedures performed were obtained from the software system used in the hospital. Results: The average number of patients admitted to the hospital per month in 1 year before the pandemic is approximately 3.5 times in the next 1 year. When the number of patients applying was evaluated in terms of gender, it is seen that the number of male patients decreased more than women during the pandemic period. It has been observed that there is a dramatic decrease in the pandemic period in all treatments. Conclusion: With the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a serious decrease in the number of patients. However, with the ongoing treatment needs and normalization processes of the patients, necessary precautions were taken and the treatment of the patients continued.