386 - COVID-19's Impact on Pediatric Emergency Dental Clinic Use at SCF

Purpose: The purpose was to determine if COVID-19 impacted emergency dental use at Southcentral Foundation Children’s Dental Clinic.

Methods: Dental charts of patients aged 0-12 years at Southcentral Foundation that used the emergency clinic 3 months prior to COVID-19 shutdown (March 18, 2020) to 1-year post-shutdown were reviewed to determine the reason for the visit. The following information was gathered: the age of pediatric patient (0-12 years), gender, whether the patient had an existing dental record at SCF or not (i.e. did the patient have an existing dental chart/prior dental encounters to their emergency visit for this study), whether the patient was in Anchorage service unit or not, and the chief complaint/reason for visit as designated by the chart narrative to determine urgency using the categories of swelling, abscess, trauma, other urgency, or non-urgency.

Results: A total of 454 charts were pulled for analysis. After applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, 417 charts were reviewed. Of the charts reviewed, the mean age of pediatric patients presenting to the walk-in clinic were 5.1, 6.2, 6.1, 6.5, and 6.4 for the control group, and follow-up groups #1, #2, #3, and #4, respectively. The control group had 0 swellings, 2 abscesses, 3 traumas, and 11 non-urgencies. Follow-up group #1 had 16 swellings, 7 abscesses, 12 traumas, and 56 non-urgencies (P=0.31). Follow-up group #2 had 5 swellings, 4 abscesses, 17 traumas, and 98 non-urgencies (P=0.27). Follow-up group #3 had 5 swellings, 4 abscesses, 7 traumas, and 72 non-urgencies (P=0.23). Follow-up group #4 had 2 swellings, 10 abscesses, 5 traumas, and 81 non-urgencies (P=0.22).

Conclusions: It can be concluded that there was not a significant relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and emergency dental clinic use, in pediatric patients aged 0-12 years at Southcentral Foundation during the studied time periods. In all groups, most walk-in visits were from patients without a pre-existing dental record, female, from an Anchorage service unit, and of non-urgent origin.