Assessing Google Searches for Toothache during COVID-19 Lockdowns.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lockdowns due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced many dental offices to be closed. This study aims to investigate the association between COVID-19 imposed lockdowns and online searches for toothache using Google Trends (GT).

Methods

We investigated GT online searches for the term "toothache" within the past 5 years. The time frame for data gathering was considered as the initiation and end dates of national/regional lockdowns in each country. We used 1-way analysis of variance to identify statistical differences in relative search volumes (RSVs) between 2020 and 2016-2019 for each country.

Results

Overall, 16 countries were included in our analyses. Among all countries, Indonesia (n = 100), Jamaica (n = 56), Philippines (n = 56), Ira

SUBMITTER: Sofi-Mahmudi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10240547 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature