{"id":5177,"date":"2021-05-21T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opencare.com\/blog\/?p=5177"},"modified":"2021-05-28T15:46:07","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T19:46:07","slug":"covid-19-dental-patient-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opencare.com\/blog\/covid-19-dental-patient-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"How do patients feel about returning to the dentist during and after COVID-19? An infographic for dentists"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 8<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Dentistry during the pandemic sure has become quite the challenge, due to heightened anxiety around infection control, stay at home orders, and measures to control the spread of COVID-19. Despite dental offices being a completely safe and essential service, some patients simply stopped going to the dentist altogether. <\/span><\/p>\n

But now that the first waves of the pandemic are behind us as vaccinations roll out across Canada and the United States, how are people feeling about coming back? What can you do to make your patients feel more comfortable?<\/span><\/p>\n

At Opencare, we conducted a patient survey about COVID-19 of over 650+ dental patients in North America. We want to share these results with you and you can learn how to make patients feel more comfortable at the dentist as lockdowns begin to lift. Opencare supports thousands of dentists every day with resources to grow and run their practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"COVID-19-patient-survey-infographic-for-dentists\"<\/picture><\/p>\n

Who we surveyed\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

We selected a cohort of 666, of which roughly \u2154<\/strong> were from Canada and the rest from the United States (mostly California). The majority of respondents (82%) were between 25 and 44 years old and 55% were women. Roughly 43% of respondents earn between $50,000 and $100,000 per year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Health habits<\/span><\/h3>\n

The patients we surveyed, as you will see below, are health-conscious patients who excited to get back to the dentist. Opencare patients are highly educated on preventative healthcare and understand the importance of frequent dentist visits.<\/p>\n\t\t

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Grow your dental practice<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Opencare is the only risk-free patient acquisition solution for dentists.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLearn more<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

Most participants were in good health and understood the importance of healthy habits. On a scale of 1 to 5, 80% rated their health a 4 or higher.<\/span><\/p>\n

A whopping 95% of respondents brushed their teeth daily (woo-hoo, somebody\u2019s doing their job!), 60.8% floss on the daily, and 45% visit the dentist every six months. Nearly 80% said they drank plenty of fluids and water, 64% did not smoke, 62% ate nutritiously, and 52% got daily exercise. All in all, generally healthy people.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

These are the type of patients you probably usually see in your dental practice and especially who you want to target going forward. These patients understand the importance of going to the dentist, even in the midst of a pandemic. Along with having dental insurance, they are willing to invest in their long-term dental health and understand that regular dental visits are an essential piece of the puzzle.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Attitudes toward dentistry during the pandemic<\/span><\/h2>\n

So, what has been going through patient\u2019s minds during the pandemic? To find out, we first asked how many participants had seen a dentist in the past year. An exciting 75% said yes! That\u2019s a good thing that only 25% of people surveyed chose not to visit the dentist this year and a testament to positive patient education.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also asked if anybody had a canceled <\/span>dentist appointment<\/span><\/a> and 38% said yes. Of those, 60% were canceled because of a COVID-19 lockdown and 19% were canceled because of scheduling issues. Additionally, 10% of patients canceled themselves because they were uncomfortable about going to the dentist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What can you do as a dentist to make them more comfortable?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The good news is that it appears most people feel rather confident about going to the dentist even during these crazy times. A solid 44% of respondents plan to visit the dentist within the next three months and another 34% will go within the next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only 4.7% said they would go only if they were in pain or it was an emergency. The top reason offered (55%) was that they were waiting for life to go back to normal and 26% were scared of getting COVID-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, you don\u2019t want to leave anybody behind. We understand you take the oral health of every patient in your practice very seriously. So we\u2019ve put together these tips to help you make them feel more about visiting you and give them a more enjoyable experience while they are there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How to reduce pandemic anxiety for your patients<\/span><\/h3>\n

Without a doubt, the dentistry industry has been affected just like everything else. However, unlike other industries, such as the restaurant or entertainment industries, people can\u2019t just stop going to the dentist. If they stop going for preventive care, they will ultimately end up in your office for emergency care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This is creating a backlog of patients who\u2019ll need dental care in the near future. Many people plan to wait for a bit after their dental office opens up to avoid the flood of patients. Others are waiting for life to \u201cget back to normal\u201d before they go. Unfortunately, this just means that more people will be flooding the offices later. This is not ideal when you want to limit the number of people in your office at the same time as well as need extra time between patients for increased sanitation measures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how do you get those patients in your office now? Here are a few tips.<\/span><\/p>\n

Communicate with your patients<\/span><\/h4>\n

People don\u2019t know what’s going on in your office unless you tell them. They may be sitting at home imagining crowded waiting rooms and long waits to get in to see the dentist. They might even decide it isn\u2019t worth the effort or the risk when there is no extra effort or risk involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t

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Worry-free insurance verification<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Opencare takes the guesswork and effort out of insurance verification.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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So, shout it from the rooftops! Or, as we tend to do in this day and age, launch an electronic campaign. Email your patients, go live on social media and post lots of visual content. People need to see sparkling clean exam rooms, empty waiting rooms, staff decked out in full PPE, and air purifiers being installed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For help on drafting \u201cwelcome back\u201d emails, check out <\/span>this free toolkit<\/span><\/a> provided by the ADA. Other emails you can send to reassure patients and keep you fresh in their minds include:<\/span><\/p>\n