Fear of COVID-19 in Madrid. Will patients avoid dental care?

Introduction: The objective of this research is to describe how perceived infectability, germ aversion, and fear of COVID-19 in adults in Madrid have changed from the beginning of the pandemic until the lockdown exit phase and their influence on dental care behaviour.

Materials and methods: Some 961 participants were monitored in a study in Madrid at 2 time points: before lockdown (T0) and after completion of the total lockdown (T1). A questionnaire that included basic sociodemographic variables, the perceived vulnerability to disease scale (including perceived infectability and germ aversion), the fear of COVID-19 scale, and dental visiting behaviour after confinement for fear of COVID was administered.

Results: The participants had higher scores for infectability and germ aversion at T1 than at T0 (P < 0.01). Of those studied, 24.5% (235) of the participants would not go to the dentist for fear of COVID-19. Those who had a high perceived infectability scale score were at least 5 times more likely to not visit the dentist. Those with high COVID-19 fear were at least 6 times more likely to not visit the dentist, and those older than 60 years were 8 times more likely to not visit.

Conclusions: The population's high levels of vulnerability to infectability and perceived germ aversion associated with fear of COVID-19 and the resultant avoidance behaviour to dental care will remain until an effective drug or vaccine for SARS-CoV2 is found.