Changes in Emergency Patient Presentation to a Maxillofacial Surgery Department During the COVID-19 Pandemic

To examine possible changes in the emergency patient volume and reasons for presentation to an oral and maxillofacial surgery department during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting contact prohibitions. We hypothesized that the pandemic would lead to fewer patients presenting with emergent conditions.

A total of 939 patients, who presented to the Department for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of Hannover Medical School during the first 4 weeks of contact prohibitions in Germany, starting from March 23, 2020 until April 19, 2020, and in comparable periods were examined. The number of patients, reason for presentation, and required treatments were documented and compared to the years 2018 and 2019. Special attention was paid to the changes in trauma cases.

We found that the number of patients in 2020 was significantly lower (P₍₂₀₁₉₎ < .001, P₍₂₀₁₈₎ < .01), but sex and age distributions were comparable to those in the previous years. Both the absolute and relative frequencies of dental diagnoses were significantly lower in 2020 (P₍₂₀₁₉₎ < .001, P₍₂₀₁₈₎ < .001), while the proportion of patients who presented with trauma was significantly higher (P₍₂₀₁₉₎ < .001, P₍₂₀₁₈₎ < .001). A significant decrease in patient number to the hospital, despite private practices being closed, was presumably due to patients' infection-related concerns. Trauma cases were more frequent in private settings, and traumatic events under the influence of alcohol were frequent. The circumstances and not the absolute number of trauma events had changed.

The results of this study suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has important effects on the use of emergency services concerning oral and maxillofacial surgery in Germany.