ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the children's primary dental treatment needs reported by the parents and pediatric dentists. Material and Methods: 125 children (36 girls and 89 boys) and their parents participated in this study. The children’s decayed-missing-filled teeth/teeth surfaces scores were recorded. A questionnaire about their children’s primary dental treatment needs was conducted with the parents. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test the normality of the data. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the clinical findings according to the categorical variables. The Chi-Square test was used to compare the categorical data. Also, multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of some variables on children’s dmft/DMFT scores. The significance level was accepted as p<0.05. Results: The average age of the children who participated in the study was 7.59 ± 2.36 years. The main reason for applying to the paedodontics clinic was dental caries (38.4%), followed by dental pain (33.6%). As for the primary dental treatment needs, 28% of the parents said they needed dental filling, while 19.2% said they needed orthodontic treatment. According to the pediatric dentists, while the treatment rate of dental caries was 47.2% as the primary treatment need, it was only 4.8% for the orthodontic treatments. Conclusion: Turkish children who were admitted to paedodontics clinics were too old and dental caries and dental pain were the most common reasons for these visits to the clinics. The children's needs for primary treatment varied according to parents and pediatric dentists. There is a need for more comprehensive studies about the subject.

Currently, the whole world is under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, and dentists are at high risk. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of precautions Turkish dentists take in dental clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study population consisted of dentists in Turkey. An online questionnaire (23 questions–57 items) was sent to a sample of Turkish dentists from March 16 to March 20, 2020. The questionnaire comprised a series of questions about dentists’ demographic characteristics, their concerns, and the measures taken in dental clinics against COVID-19. This study included a total of 1,958 Turkish dentists. A total of 1,274 (65.1%) were general dentists, and 684 (34.9%) were specialists. Five hundred twenty-two (26.7%) dentists attended an informational meeting on COVID-19. Of these dentists, 69.8% were aware of COVID-19 according to their self-assessed knowledge scores. More than 90% of the dentists were concerned about themselves and their families. Only 12% of the dentists wore an N95 mask. Although Turkish dentists took some precautionary measures, they did not take enough precautions to protect themselves, the dental staff, and other patients from COVID-19. As the number of COVID-19 cases increased, the measures taken slightly increased in dental clinics as well. Dentists are strongly recommended to take maximum precautions in the clinical setting. The guidelines about the COVID-19 pandemic should be sent to all dentists by the regional and national dental associations.

Abstract Currently, the whole world is under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, and dentists are at high risk. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of precautions Turkish dentists take in dental clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study population consisted of dentists in Turkey. An online questionnaire (23 questions–57 items) was sent to a sample of Turkish dentists from March 16 to March 20, 2020. The questionnaire comprised a series of questions about dentists’ demographic characteristics, their concerns, and the measures taken in dental clinics against COVID-19. This study included a total of 1,958 Turkish dentists. A total of 1,274 (65.1%) were general dentists, and 684 (34.9%) were specialists. Five hundred twenty-two (26.7%) dentists attended an informational meeting on COVID-19. Of these dentists, 69.8% were aware of COVID-19 according to their self-assessed knowledge scores. More than 90% of the dentists were concerned about themselves and their families. Only 12% of the dentists wore an N95 mask. Although Turkish dentists took some precautionary measures, they did not take enough precautions to protect themselves, the dental staff, and other patients from COVID-19. As the number of COVID-19 cases increased, the measures taken slightly increased in dental clinics as well. Dentists are strongly recommended to take maximum precautions in the clinical setting. The guidelines about the COVID-19 pandemic should be sent to all dentists by the regional and national dental associations.