Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in Wuhan, China in 2019 and causes severerespiratory infection, poses a potential risk for dentists and patients during dentaltreatments. It is a common situation during the pandemic period for parents of childrenneeding dental treatment to want to postpone their children's treatment due to Covid-19.This study aimed to evaluate parents' concerns about their children's dentistappointments and ongoing dental treatments in the presence of the quarantine imposed dueto Covid-19 and the Covid-19 vaccines that have started to be administered worldwide. Inthe study, an informative survey consisting of 26 questions was applied to determine howparents feel about the COVID-19 pandemic, how concerned they are about their children'soral health and dental treatment plan, and the changes caused by COVID-19 vaccinationpractices. The questions were created by 3 different experienced dentists and analysed by2 different experienced dentists. Questions 7 and 26 were repeated at the beginning andend of the survey to give the same question and answer meaning. Thus, the reliability ofthe survey was tested.
This study was carried out on the parents of pediatric patients who applied to Bolu Abant
İzzet Baysal University Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry between
2022 March and 2022 June. Ethical approval of the study was approved by Bolu Abant İzzet
Baysal University Clinical Research Ethics Committee (Ethics Number 2022/12). In the
study, an informative survey consisting of 26 questions was applied to determine how
parents feel about the COVID-19 pandemic, how concerned they are about their children's
oral health and dental treatment plan, and the changes caused by COVID-19 vaccination
practices (Table 1). It was aimed to apply a survey to all parents of patients who
fulfilled the inclusion criteria after ethics committee approval was obtained, provided
that at least 400 participants were provided.
Inclusion Criteria Being over 18 years old Volunteering for the study Being mentally
healthy Parents who apply to the paediatric dentistry clinic for the treatment of their
child aged 0-14 years Being able to read and understand Turkish Being a citizen of the
Republic of Turkey Exclusion Criteria The patient is not accompanied by a parent Not
being able to read and understand Turkish Not volunteering for the study The questions
were created by 3 different experienced dentists and analysed by 2 different experienced
dentists. Participants were asked questions such as their age, gender, city of residence,
whether they had symptoms related to COVID-19, whether they had received dental
treatment, and whether they had been vaccinated against COVID-19, and if so, which
vaccine they preferred and why. In terms of the reliability of the comprehensibility of
the survey, Questions 7 and 26 were repeated at the beginning and end of the survey to
give the same question and answer meaning. Thus, the reliability of the survey was
tested.
Statistical Analysis In this study, the relationships between categorical data were
analysed by Pearson's Chi-squared Test when the sample size assumption was met (n<5) and
by Fisher's Exact test when it was not met. Multiple Chi-Square test was used to
investigate the relationship between multiple-choice questions. Analyses were performed
in IBM SPSS 25 programme. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Other: Survey
26 survey questions were administered face to face to parents, which they could answer in
a short time.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Being over 18 years old
- Volunteering for the study
- Being mentally healthy
- Parents who apply to the paediatric dentistry clinic for the treatment of their
child aged 0-14 years
- Being able to read and understand Turkish
- Being a citizen of the Republic of Turkey
Exclusion Criteria:
- The patient is not accompanied by a parent
- Not being able to read and understand Turkish
- Not volunteering for the study
Deniz Sıla Özdemir Çelik
Merkez, Bolu 750510, Turkey (Türkiye)
Not Provided