Dental Workload Reduction during First SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Thomas Gerhard Wolf, James Deschner, Harald Schrader, Peter Bührens, Gudrun Kaps-Richter, Maria Grazia Cagetti and Guglielmo Campus
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Thomas Gerhard Wolf: Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
James Deschner: Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, D-55131 Mainz, Germany
Harald Schrader: Free Association of German Dentists/Freier Verband Deutscher Zahnärzte (FVDZ), D-53117 Bonn, Germany
Peter Bührens: Free Association of German Dentists/Freier Verband Deutscher Zahnärzte (FVDZ), D-53117 Bonn, Germany
Gudrun Kaps-Richter: Free Association of German Dentists/Freier Verband Deutscher Zahnärzte (FVDZ), D-53117 Bonn, Germany
Maria Grazia Cagetti: Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Science, University of Milan, I-20142 Milan, Italy
Guglielmo Campus: Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: An observational cross-sectional survey was planned to analyze the weekly workload reduction of German dentists during lockdown due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were predominantly members of the Free Association of German Dentists and filled in an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to a total of 9416 dentists, with a response rate of 27.98% ( n = 2635). Respondents were divided into seven macro areas by gross domestic product. Nearly two-thirds of dentists (65.16%) reported a reduction in their practice workload of more than 50% compared to the pre-pandemic period with statistically significant differences between German macro areas ( p < 0.01). Weekly workload was reduced during the lockdown in 93.00% of study participants, while 55.33% dental care centers with multiple employed dentists under the direction of a non-dentist general manager had only a 40% reduction in weekly workload compared to a solo practice or a practice of a dentist with an employed dentist (30.24% and 28.39%, respectively). Dentists in Germany drastically reduced their practice activity during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown, both in rural and urban areas. Short, medium, and long-term effects of the pandemic on dental practices, dental staff as well as patient care need to be further investigated.

Keywords: COVID-19; dental practice; economic; dentist; Germany; global pandemic; reduction; SARS-CoV-2; workload (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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