| Quote 1 |
"Many patients came with the Abscess, and when asked, why did you delay so long? The first thing they say is we wanted to push it as much as possible because of Covid; we didn't want to come to a dental clinic where a lot of patients walk in and get affected by Corona." |
| Quote 2 |
"I think the media has played a big role here. They had demonized dentistry to a large extent for Covid transmission, whereas in reality, a lot of other medical professions also involved aerosol generation. Media to a large extent and, to some extent, dentists themselves. They have put up articles on social media, which have created a wrong perception." |
| Quote 3 |
"Usually, we have a Monthly review for patients with my brace to train them about the exercises so that they don't forget. The patient who used to come regularly for review did not report because of the fear of Covid infection." |
| Quote 4 |
"Yeah, I have come across one patient's parent who made the child wear the mask even in between the treatment. While putting the instrument inside the mouth, they remove the mask, and when I take the hands out to get some other instrument, the parent puts the child's mask on. They don't want to leave the child anytime without a mask. Only when I'm treating the mask is down. The moment I turn to take the next instrument, the mask is on." |
| Quote 5 |
"For Some new patients/parents, what we did to ease their worry is we made them get their items: towel, mask, gloves. Because we allowed them to spread their bedsheets on chairs to use their things, they felt clean and safe. This way, parents were more comfortable." |
| Quote 6 |
"I preferred to do more extractions, preventive procedures, atraumatic restorative treatments (ART), use of silver diamine fluoride treatments (SDF), or a simple temporary restoration to prevent food impaction." |
| Quote 7 |
"I try to reduce the clinic time for the patient and also the number of appointments." |
| Quote 8 |
"We had to clean everything including the doorknob, the chairs where they sat, and the other areas, which they were touching, inside and outside the dental operatory… everything has to be cleaned." |
| Quote 9 |
"Instructions were given on the phone to patients to wear full-sleeve shirts, long pants, and socks to ensure complete coverage." |
| Quote 10 |
"Into the surgical room, only I and the child would go. I preferred not to have a chairside assistant." |
| Quote 11 |
"Some children are really scared to come close. They relate us to the hospital setup." |
| Quote 12 |
"Sometimes, the parents have told me that since they are not able to see my face (especially the ones coming for the first time), they are not able to make connections with the doctor. This is because the doctor has PPE all the time, and most of the time, only eyes are visible." |
| Quote 13 |
"Another problem was being unable to drink water, eat anything, and not going to the washroom in between while wearing PPE. Duty was almost for 6-8 hrs. I was not able to breathe casually, and that had an impact." |
| Quote 14 |
"I usually take two appointments to convince them, explain them, and talk to them in an attempt to gain cooperation for the treatment. But these days, we just make one appointment. If they don't cooperate, then we just suggest pharmacological behavior management. We don't want to spend a lot of time training children to cooperate." |
| Quote 15 |
"I didn't want to trigger the child for a crying episode. I was scared if they cried or became uncooperative, there would be too much aerosol." |
| Quote 16 |
"I have seen most of them just looking at me, expressionless, just gazing at me with no expressions." |
| Quote 17 |
"The child may be okay seeing us with a mask, but then for the child to get attached to us, they need to see our face and smile. That was not happening." |
| Quote 18 |
"Generally, when pediatric dentists speak, they speak more expressively, like they show more facial expressions, and I feel when you try talking to the patient with a lot of expressions, they also get along with you better. Now, it's not happening. So, the only thing is you have to try connecting to children using hand movements and voice. But, when we wear masks, our voice also is not heard properly by the patient. So, you will have to speak loudly and repeatedly, spending more energy on that." |
| Quote 19 |
"Explanation to the child on what will be done is given before donning the PPE. This way, the child gets familiarized with me better, and also my chair-side time is less while discussion table time is more." |
| Quote 20 |
"When we work on chairs, parents won't wear masks properly. While working, suddenly, we realize that parents are not wearing the mask. The mask will be down on the neck or near the chin." |
| Quote 21 |
"These days, we ask only one of the parents to come inside the operatory. I want the communication with the parent to be as minimal as possible during the procedure. So, I completed the communication part before starting the procedure and instructed the parent to be a silent observer in the operatory." |
