Effect of COVID-19 on the frequency of paediatric dental treatment in general anesthesia in Latvia

The study aims to identify and to describe the effect of restrictions during the COVID19 on dental care requiring general anaesthesia (GA) in the year 2020 compared to previous years. A descriptive study of patients records (Riga_Stradins_University(RSU)-Ethics Committee app-Nr.6-1/01/140) attended from 2010 to 2020 in RSU university clinic, in Latvia (1920000 inhabitants) was performed. We calculated descriptive statistics for two periods (2010-2014 and 2015-2019) to compare them with the year 2020 to evaluate trends and changes in the number of patients treated and type of treatment under GA to assess the effect of restrictions due to COVID19. We fitted a linear model, estimated using ordinary least squares regression (OLS) to detect the changes by periods with a significance level p=0.05. During the period 2010-2020, 14211 patients were treated under GA (1291 average per year). Patients treated on average (standard deviation) from 2010 to 2014 were 1098 (139.8), from 2015 to 2019 were 1418 (133.1), and in 2020 (total) were 1633, with no evidence of significant variation from 2020 (p=0.08). About treatments during restrictions, in April 2020, the total number of filled teeth decreased significantly for all children, and for children aged 1-3 years, extractions increased significantly (p<0.05). We observed the lowest number of treated teeth per patient compared to previous periods: 4.59 (2.55) in 2020; 5.13 (2.26) in 2015-2019; p<0.05. The sustained increase in patients observed for the period 2010-2019 was held during 2020, but a change in the type of treatments, with increased dental extractions, and the less number of treated teeth per patient were observed during the first COVID wave in Latvia 2020