Evaluation of Internet Users'  Interests for Paediatric Dental Problems during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The outbreak of pandemic coronavirus (COVID-19) had a significant impact on dental care providers; patients had trouble accessing routine dental care due to concerns about the safety of dentists and patients. Therefore, people spend more time at home due to lockdown and working from home, which increases their likelihood of looking for dental care information on the Internet. The present study aims to compare the trends of Internet searches for paediatric dentistry queries before and after COVID-19. Design: The weekly variation of relative search volume (RSV) and the lists of paediatric dentistry-related queries were determined from December 2018 through December 2020 using Google Trends. Two separate data sets were obtained before and after the pandemic. It compared COVID-19's first year to the year before COVID-19. The data sets were analyzed using paired t-test. Results There was a statistically significant increase in queries about dental emergencies, especially toothache and dental trauma (p < 0.05). Other queries about recommended dental procedures during COVID-19, such as Hall Techniques and stainless steel crowns, showed an increasing trend. However, these were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusions People search for many more emergency queries on the Internet due to their limited access to dental care providers. Also, non-aerosol generating procedures such as Hall Techniques are becoming much more popular.