LAUSR

Introduction The aims of this observational study were to: 1) Determine if Endodontists’ practice in early 2021 experienced changes in patients’ characteristics compared to a comparable pre-pandemic period; 2) Determine whether the changes reported during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 were reversed one year later. Methods Demographic, diagnostic, and procedural data of 2657 patient visits from two endodontist private offices, from March-16 to May-31 in 2019, 2020, and 2021 were included. Bivariate analyses and multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the impact of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on patient data. Results Bivariate analyses showed that patients’ self-reported pain levels and number of visits with irreversible pulpitis in 2021 were higher than 2019 (P<.05). Patient’s self-reported pain, percussion pain, and palpation pain levels in 2021were less than 2020 (P<.05). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that Endodontists’ practice in 2021 had an increase in the number of non-surgical root canal treatments (Odds ratio [OR], 1.482; 95% Confidence interval [CI], 1.102-1.992), and apicoectomies (OR, 2.662; 95% CI, 1.416-5.004) compared to 2019. Compared to the initial outbreak in 2020, endodontists’ practice in 2021 had visits with older patients (OR, 1.288; 95% CI, 1.045-1.588), less females (OR, 0.781; 95% CI, 0.635-.960), more molars (OR, 1.389; 95% CI, 1.065-1.811), and less pain on percussion (OR, 0.438; 95% CI, 0.339-0.566). Conclusions Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in the number of non-surgical root canal treatments. Some of the changes observed during the initial outbreak in 2020, including objective pain parameters, returned to normal levels one year later.