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Purpose: To determine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on use of toothpaste in Peruvian children., Methods: A national database of Peruvian children from 0 to 11 years old was used to develop a cross-sectional study, with a final sample of 51, 013 subjects. Data were obtained of results of the Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES); the questionnaire was self-reported. The use of toothpaste and fluoride concentration in toothpaste were dependent variables, and for the independent variable, the year was considered; in addition, other covariates were included. The statistical analyses applied were descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate tests., Results: Use of toothpaste was 98.99% (n = 50,134), while fluoride toothpaste with < 1000 ppm was used by 77.29% (n = 27,366). For bivariate analysis, use of toothpaste was associated with place and area of residence, altitude, natural region, and age; for use of fluoride toothpaste with minimum 1000 ppm, there was an association with place and area of residence, natural region, wealth index, and age. In a multivariate manner, year only presented a positive association with use of fluoride toothpaste < 1000 ppm (RPa:1.04; 95%CI 1.01-1.07)., Conclusions: Year 2020 of COVID-19 pandemic had a positive impact on the use of < 1000 ppm fluoride toothpaste in Peruvian children., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry.)

Background: Toothbrushing is a convenient, inexpensive, widespread and culturally accepted method, resulting in an ideal public health outcome. This study aimed to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on toothbrushing in Peruvian children. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted using a database of children aged 0 to 11 years, with a final sample of 39,124 participants, 15,974 in 2019 (62.03%) and 7088 in 2020 (55.54%). General toothbrushing, daily toothbrushing and minimum frequency of two times a day were dependent variables; the year was considered as the independent variable. In addition, other covariates such as geographical landscape, area of residence, place of residence, altitude, wealth index, health insurance cover, sex and age. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were applied. Results: General toothbrushing was 96.19% (n=51 013), daily toothbrushing was 87.47% (n=42 246) and minimum toothbrushing two times a day was 84.53% (n=33 957). In multivariate form, the year presented a negative association with daily toothbrushing (RPa: 0.97; CI95%: 0.96-0.98; p<0.001) and minimum toothbrushing two times a day (RPa: 0.97; CI95%: 0.95-0.98; p<0.001), adjusted for the previously associated co-variables. Conclusions: The year 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted daily toothbrushing and minimum twice-daily toothbrushing of Peruvian children., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed., (Copyright: © 2022 Garcés-Elías MC et al.)

In Peru, there is low dental service use among older adults, in addition to a social gradient for use. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered complex scenarios characterized by inadequate access to health services, with greater impact on vulnerable population groups such as the elderly. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the time since last dental care visit among elderly Peruvians. It was a cross-sectional study conducted on a population of 5247 respondents in 2019, and 5066 respondents in 2020. The study considered the answers of people who responded to the question on the last time they had received dental care, extracting a total 4045 subjects for 2019 and 3943 for 2020. The dependent variable was time since last dental care measured in years, while the variables on health, geographic and sociodemographic characteristics were grouped within three dimensions. A descriptive bivariate and multivariateanalysiswasapplied by means of multiple linear regression to analyze the behavior of the variables. Time since the last dental care visit was 7.93 years (SD=8.03) in 2019 and 7.94 years (SD=7.28) in 2020. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was performed, where no variable in the 2019 model was significant; while for 2020, health, geographic, and sociodemographic characteristics variables were significant. In the analysis where the 'year' variable becomes independent, only model 4, which considers all variables, was valid (p=0.018). The variables 'area of residence' and 'wealth index' were also significant. To conclude, the 2020 pandemic year for COVID-19 had no impact on the time since last dental care visit among elderly Peruvians, though factors such as area of residence and wealth index were found to be associated with the time since last dental care visit., Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Odontológica.)

Background: Due to the high transmissibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), governments adopted preventive measures, such as social distancing and obligatory social immobilization, which negatively affected access to health services, including oral health services. Similarly, dental care restraint arose in this context, with the aim of reducing the possibility of cross-infection caused by aerosols, which notably restricted dental care activity., Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the timing of dental care in Peruvian children., Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study with a population of 42,115 respondents for 2019 and 20,510 for 2020 was conducted. The participants were children aged 0-11 years. The records of those who responded to the question on the time since their last dental care were considered, extracting a total of 22,166 (69.03%) subjects for 2019 and 9,945 (30.97%) subjects for 2020. The dependent variable consisted of the time since the last dental care measured in years; the variables of health, geographic and sociodemographic characteristics were grouped within 3 dimensions. Descriptive bivariate and multivariate analyses were applied by means of multiple linear regression in order to analyze the variables., Results: The time since the last dental care during 2019 was 5.25 ±4.30 years, and it increased to 6.64 ±4.90 years in 2020. Within the multivariate analysis, the dimensions and their variables were ordered hierarchically for 2019 and 2020 separately, and as a whole. Each model was not significant when observed independently (p > 0.05); however, when evaluated as a whole, validity was observed only in model 1 of the year (p = 0.018), with R2 = 2.90, a constant equal to 3.852, the non-standardized regression coefficient (β) of 1.653, and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.289-3.018., Conclusions: The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic year had a negative impact on the timing of dental care in Peruvian children, increasing it by 1.39 years as compared to 2019.