The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes after treatment of odontogenic cysts with decompression followed by surgery.

OBJECTIVE

The global pandemic outbreak has caused significant limitations in the public's access to routine dental care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes related to decompression treatment followed by surgery for large odontogenic cysts during COVID-19 pandemic.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

The present study were performed in patients (n=11) with large odontogenic cysts treated at our institution between March 2020 to June 2021. Decompression was applied as a part of the conservative approach and followed by surgery. All surgical procedures were performed under local anesthesia. Patient satisfaction related to treatment was recorded via the Likert scale and Visual Analog Scale after the surgery. Gender, age, location of the lesion, histopathological features, pre-and post-decompression size of lesions, decompression time, reduction rate and patients satisfaction values were recorded.

RESULTS

The mean age was 27 years and all patients were male. Mean follow-up time was on average 6.45 months. Histologic examination at the time of definitive surgery was 54.5% of the radicular cyst and 45.5% of odontogenic keratocyst. The mean reduction rate was 80.8%. No recurrence were recorded. Patient satisfaction values related to treatment modality were 3.91 for the Likert scale and 79.45% for the VAS scale. 81.8% of patients recommend this treatment modality for prospective patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this study supported that conservative management of large cystic lesions of jaws with decompression followed by surgery has favorable patient satisfaction scores and predictable to reduce the effects of radical surgery in COVID-19 pandemic.