Dental practice during COVID-19 in Nepal: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Introduction: Currently, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become pandemic and spread global-ly. In Nepal, the number of COVID-19 is increasing day-by-day. This research was done to find out the impact of COVID-19 on dentists, patients, and dental practice in Nepal. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study conducted using an online survey from May 10 to17, 2020. A questionnaire was designed and uploaded in Freeonlinesurveys.com. Following ethical ap-proval, the questionnaire was distributed among 500 dentists, and 406 dentists participated in the study. The survey link was dispersed to the Nepali dentists through social media and e-mail, and the results of the responses were received online. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 34 closed-end-ed questions containing three parts; demographic details, knowledge of dentists on COVID-19, and the impact of COVID-19 on dentists, patients, and dental treatments. Results: It showed that majority of the participants were females 243 (60%) of the age group 25-29 years with the clinic as the workplace. Patients receive dental treatments only from 40 (10%) of the dentist. A high number of dentists: 284 (70%) were severely affected by the financial burden and were not receiving a salary during this lockdown. About 349(86%) of the dentist think they should do regular dental treatments, but only 101 (25%) think the dentist should do only dental emergency treatments for COVID-19 infected cases. Conclusions: Dentists, patients, and dental practice are severely affected by the COVID-19.The majority of the dentists have faced financial burdens. The dental treatments should be done with high standards of care and infection control following proper recommendations.