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Observational Study
. 2021 Jul;152(7):535-541.e1.
doi: 10.1016/j.adaj.2021.02.016. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

2020 trends in dental office visits during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ashley M Kranz, Annie Chen, Grace Gahlon, Bradley D Stein
Observational Study

2020 trends in dental office visits during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ashley M Kranz et al. J Am Dent Assoc. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 has created barriers to the delivery of health care services, including dental care. This study sought to quantify the change in dental visits in 2020 compared with 2019.

Methods: This retrospective, observational study examined the percentage change in weekly visits to dental offices by state (inclusive of the District of Columbia), nationally, and by county-level COVID-19 incidence using geographic information from the mobile applications of 45 million smartphones during 2019 and 2020.

Results: From March through August 2020, weekly visits to dental offices were 33% lower, on average, than in 2019. Weekly visits were 34% lower, on average, in counties with the highest COVID-19 rates. The greatest decline was observed during the week of April 12, 2020, when there were 66% fewer weekly visits to dental offices. The 5 states (inclusive of the District of Columbia) with the greatest declines in weekly visits from 2019 through 2020, ranging from declines of 38% through 53%, were California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

Conclusions: Weekly visits to US dental offices declined drastically during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although rates of weekly visits rebounded substantially by June 2020, rates remain about 20% lower than the prior year as of August 2020. These findings highlight the economic challenges faced by dentists owing to the pandemic.

Practical implications: States exhibited widespread variation in rates of declining visits during the pandemic, suggesting that dental practices may need to consider different approaches to reopening and encouraging patients to return depending on location.

Keywords: Access to care; dental health services; dental offices; utilization of care.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage differences in weekly visits to dental offices between 2019 and 2020. Number of weekly visits to dental offices was tracked using smartphone location data. The percentage changes were centered at 100 for ease of interpretation. The green bar illustrates that the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States on March 13, 2020.
Figure 2
Figure 2
State-level percentage differences in weekly visits to dental offices from March through August between 2019 and 2020. Map reflects the state-level (inclusive of District of Columbia) unadjusted differences in weekly visits to dental offices from March 8 through the week of August 23, 2020, compared with the same weeks in 2019. Weekly visits to dental offices were tracked using smartphone location data.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage differences in weekly visits to dental offices between 2019 and 2020, by cumulative county-level COVID-19 incidence rate per 100,000 population tercile. Number of weekly visits to dental offices was tracked using smartphone location data. The percentage changes were centered at 100 for ease of interpretation. County-level COVID-19 incidence rates per 100,000 population were estimated using data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering as of August 29, 2020. The green bar illustrates that the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States on March 13, 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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