COVID-19 and the impact on child dental services in the UK
Ifeanyichukwu Okike, Allan Reid, Katherine Woonsam, Andrew Dickenson
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed significant challenges to the health, social, financial and educational systems globally. While COVID-19 produces very severe illness, and in some cases death, mainly in the elderly, children and young people have been somewhat protected. One per cent to three per cent of COVID-19 cases have been reported in children,1 2 with very few experiencing severe symptoms, and up to 15 June 2020 there have only been five known deaths in people aged <16 years in England and Wales. The predicted mortality risk for children is 1 in 5.3 million.3 The UK, like other countries, instituted a lockdown in response. Much has been written about the consequence of lockdown on children’s services, such as declining emergency attendances,4 delayed presentation and missed childhood immunisation.5 6 There are insidious consequences, such as disruption to schooling, especially within disadvantaged families, and the long-term impact will have individual and societal changes, as discussed in a recent BMJ opinion piece.6 However, little consideration has been given to oral health, an aspect of child health which is commonly overlooked but deserves to be prioritised due to its impact on general health. As a result of the national lockdown and scaling back on services in England, the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) advised on 25 March that all routine, non-urgent dental care should be stopped and deferred.7 Practices were advised to provide a virtual emergency assessment service, mainly using a telephone triage system, and only refer to urgent care hubs for essential clinical treatment. As a result, children and young people in the UK, including a group of infants who would have been eligible for …