Self-reported dental treatment needs during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil: an infodemiological study

Abstract The aim of the present infodemiological study was to evaluate whether the COVID-19 outbreak has influenced the volume of content related to the dental treatment needs of Brazilian Twitter users to summarize the trends, and to identify the perceptions of the treatment needed. We collected tweets related to dental care needs of individuals exposed to the COVID-19 outbreak scenario between March 23 to May 4, 2020 and of those not exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic (unexposed group) on the same reported days of 2019 using the terms “dentista (dentist), dente (tooth), siso (third molar), and aparelho (orthodontic appliance).” Descriptive analysis was performed to provide summary statistics of the frequencies of tweets related to different dental treatment needs and also the differences in volume content between the years 2019 and 2020. Moreover, the data were analyzed by qualitative analysis using an inductive approach. A total of 1,763 tweets from 2020 and 1,339 tweets from 2019 were screened. Those tweets posted by non-Brazilian users, duplicates, and those unrelated to dental treatment needs were removed and, therefore 1,197 tweets from 2020 and 719 tweets from 2019 were selected. Content volume related to dental treatment needs greatly increased during the COVID-19 outbreak. Findings from the word cloud and content analysis suggest that dental pain, related or not to the third molar, and problems with orthodontic appliances were the topics most commonly related to dental treatment needs discussed during the COVID-19 outbreak, mainly conveying anxiety and distress. The volume of tweets related to dental treatment needs posted by Brazilian users increased during the COVID-19 outbreak and self-reported pain and urgencies were the most popular topics.

摘要 本信息流行病学研究旨在评估新冠疫情是否对巴西推特（Twitter）用户的牙科治疗需求相关内容量产生影响，以总结相关趋势并明确民众对所需牙科治疗的认知。本研究收集了2020年3月23日至5月4日期间，暴露于新冠疫情场景下的个体的牙科护理需求相关推文，以及2019年同期（即相同报告日期）未暴露于新冠大流行的人群（未暴露组）的推文，检索关键词为“dentista（牙医，dentist）、dente（牙齿，tooth）、siso（第三磨牙，third molar）、aparelho（正畸矫治器，orthodontic appliance）”。本研究采用描述性分析方法，对不同牙科治疗需求相关推文的出现频率及2019与2020年的内容量差异进行汇总统计；同时采用归纳法开展定性分析。最终共筛选出2020年推文1763条、2019年推文1339条，剔除非巴西用户发布的重复推文及与牙科治疗需求无关的内容后，最终纳入2020年推文1197条、2019年推文719条。研究结果显示，新冠疫情期间与牙科治疗需求相关的内容量显著提升。词云分析与内容分析结果表明，新冠疫情期间讨论最多的牙科治疗需求主题为与第三磨牙相关或无关的牙痛，以及正畸矫治器相关问题，相关内容主要传递出焦虑与苦恼情绪。巴西用户发布的牙科治疗需求相关推文量在新冠疫情期间有所上升，其中自我报告的疼痛与急症为最热门的讨论主题。