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CC BY 4.0 · European Journal of General Dentistry 2022; 11(02): 114-122
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1747924
Original Article

Perceived Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Practitioners: A Bi-Country Survey

Khaloud Tariq 
1   Department of Preventive and Dental Public Health, University College of Dentistry, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan
,
Kanza Iqbal
2   Department of Operative Dentistry, 28 Military Dental Centre, Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Lahore, Pakistan
,
Hadeer Bhutta 
3   Department of Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
,
Muhammad Hassan
4   Department of Dental Materials, University College of Dentistry, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan
,
Faisal Baloch
5   Department of Dental Materials, Baqai Medical University, Baqai Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan
› Institutsangaben Funding None.
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Abstract

Objective COVID-19 resulted in dentistry being declared high-risk occupation due to the mode of the spread of the virus. This resulted in partial and complete closure of dental practices around the world, reducing revenue of practitioners. Hence, study aims to evaluate financial impact on dental practitioners in Pakistan and UAE.

Materials and Methods A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2020 to January 2021. It involved questions relating to demographics and financial challenges faced, associated with change in standard operating procedures due to pandemic. The descriptive statistics were expressed as frequency and percentage. Statistical analysis was performed by Chi-square test or Fischer's exact test.

Results In total, 427 respondents participated in the study. Approximately half (55.7%) of the respondents had their practices shut down, while 89.9% observed decrease in patient flow. The majority (82.2%) of respondents had to buy personal protective equipment (PPE), whereas 66.7% had to pay a high cost for that. Almost 87.3% of respondents reported having experienced financial constraints because of the pandemic related changes to the practice. Moreover, 27.8% reported staff being laid off, which were mostly due to monetary constrictions.

Conclusion Dental professionals faced a considerable impact on their practice and financial situation due to pandemic. Policies must be made to support such professionals in times of emergency who are at higher risk of being most affected with respect to health and finances.

Keywords

COVID-19 - dentistry - dental clinics - dental practice - economic evaluation


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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
21. Juli 2022

© 2022. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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