The first 6 weeks: setting up a UK urgent dental care centre during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges, including provision of urgent dental care. This paper presents a prospective service evaluation during establishment of urgent dental care in the North-East of England over a six-week period. Aim: To monitor patient volumes, demographics and outcomes at the North-East urgent dental care service and confirm appropriate care pathways. Main Outcome Methods: Data were collected on key characteristics of patients accessing urgent care from 23rd March to 3rd May 2020. Analysis was with descriptive statistics. Results: There were 1746 patient triages, (1595 telephone and 151 face-to-face) resulting in 1322 clinical consultations. The most common diagnoses were: symptomatic irreversible pulpitis or apical periodontitis. 65% of clinical consultations resulted in extractions, 0.5% an aerosol generating procedure. Patients travelled 25km on average to access care, however this reduced as more urgent care centres were established. The majority of patients were asymptomatic of COVID-19 and to our knowledge no staff acquired infection due to occupational exposure. Conclusion: The urgent dental care centre effectively managed urgent and emergency dental care, with appropriate patient pathways established over the 6-week period. Dental preparedness for future pandemic crisis could be improved and informed by this data.