Individual dental procedures in primary care in Bahia: a comparison before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Abstract

This time-series study aimed to compare the production of basic individual dental procedures before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in Bahia, Brazil. Secondary data were extracted from the Health Information System for Primary Care between 2019 (pre-pandemic period) and 2020-2022 (pandemic period), and from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) regarding population estimates. The variation in annual production by procedure area and the monthly production rate per state population were calculated. Between 2019 and 2022, 11,871,382 procedures were performed, with a decreasing reduction in annual production during the pandemic period (2020-2019: -64.2%, 2021-2019: -48.3%, and 2022-2019: -36.8%). The lowest production rates occurred in April 2020, with a gradual increase in subsequent months. Preventive procedures were the most frequently performed throughout the years, but while restorative dentistry was the second most performed in the pre-pandemic period, it was replaced by surgical procedures during the pandemic. Therefore, basic individual dental procedures were highly impacted during the pandemic in Bahia, and despite the recovery, they have not returned to pre-pandemic levels; furthermore, curative procedures were replaced by mutilating procedures.