| Popis: |
The Covid-19 pandemic situation has affected community activities, work, income which decreased, psychological disorders such as stress, and limited accessibility to dental practice service, which is now for emergency cases only. This condition can affect oral health in the community. This study aimed to assess the oral health condition in the community during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study was implementing a cross-sectional research design. Data were obtained from online questionnaires with the respondent's consent. The sample selection with inclusion criteria comprised 1960 years old who lived in Bandung West Java. The self-report questionnaire for oral health assessment was followed, the previous research, by Levin et al.,2013. It has been trans-adapted to Bahasa Indonesia and validated. Respondents of the study were 380 participants. Poor oral hygiene maintenance was the wrong frequency of brushing teeth (12.1%), only visiting the dentist when having a toothache (72.9%), and smoking (7.9%). Oral health problems include gingival bleeding on brushing (15.3%), tooth mobility (13.2%), tooth cavities (62.9%), toothache (27.1%), and bad breath (22.6%). Most of the oral health problems were tooth cavities followed by toothache. The contributing factors include poor oral hygiene maintenance, improper brushing, smoking habits, and infrequent dental care. Furthermore, the accessibility and availability of services in dental practice in the pandemic situation are limited. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that oral self-examination probably could minimize the distancingrelated problem in this Covid-19 pandemic situation and be helpful in the early detection of oral health problems. KEYWORDS: assessment, Covid-19 pandemic, oral health |
