MORE THAN JUST CAVITIES: POOR ORAL HEALTH HYGIENE LINKED TO SEVERE COVID-19 SYMPTOMS

As COVID-19 cases are rising, a new international study led by researchers at McGill University has found that those with poor oral health hygiene tend to experience more severe COVID-19 symptoms, with patients 3.5 times more likely to land in the ICU.

The potentially life-altering finding, coincides with what many dental offices have been experiencing this last year: a decline in routine check ups and an uptake in emergency dental care. But why? The answer is a sad one: Pandemic Panic.

As the fight against COVID-19 continues and lock-downs and stay-at-home orders are brought forth, many families are feeling anxious about seeking dental care due to concerns about exposure. As a result, fewer people are accessing routine dental care, a worrisome side-effect to an already stressful situation.

Although dealing with dental issues and diseases is normal, COVID has completely changed dental practices and the types of dental emergencies that they are increasingly seeing.

For example, dental emergencies have become more prevalent than ever before due to patients cancelling or postponing check-ups because of pandemic anxiety. Patients are too scared to leave their homes and financial difficulties are preventing them from keeping appointments, sometimes, ones that are multi-treatment or that would help flag more systemic health problems. Dentists are seeing more severe cavities, clenching and grinding dental emergencies related to stress and cancelling check-ups.

It’s completely understandable to want to avoid leaving your house as much as possible, but there are several reasons you shouldn’t delay or avoid your family’s dental visits. Routine check-ups will protect your overall health, help maintain healthy habits, and will even save you money and even your life.

It’s important to understand that dental offices are one of the safest places to be in right now, thanks to having to completely overhaul their safety measures by adding new glass shields, ventilation systems, ultraviolet lights and Dentists and dental hygienists being in full PPE. Patients are pre-screened with temperature checks and checklists, as well as sanitizing stations, and with limited appointments available per day, a small number of patients are allowed in the waiting room which demonstrates why there are few if any reported cases of COVID transmission from a dental office, and reinforcement for why the dental community have been one of the safest and most diligent practitioners this past year.