Dental treatments, care, and services (the decision context) vs No comparator: Fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) as a barrier to dental treatment
- Population
- (Potential) patients with freedom of choice regarding dental treatments, including parents and caregivers deciding for children or elderly; patients with special needs excluded
- Intervention
- Dental treatments, care, and services (the decision context)
- Comparison
- No comparator
- Outcome
- Fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) as a barrier to dental treatment
One study found that fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection led US patients to postpone and cancel dental treatments, with dental care most affected (38.1% delays; ungraded).
What each review found
Current versions only| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Dental treatments, care, and services (the decision context) vs None (no comparator defined) Fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) as a barrier to dental treatment · (Potential) patients with freedom of choice regarding dental treatments, including parents and caregivers deciding for… · USA (online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic), US patients surveyed at COVID-19 onset (Papautsky et al., n=2570) One study found that fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection led US patients to postpone and cancel dental treatments, with dental care most affected (38.1% delays; ungraded). Decision-making regarding dental treatments - What factors matter from patients' perspective? A systematic… (2025) All outcomes | One article (Papautsky et al., US convenience sample n=2,570) reported that fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection led patients to postpone and cancel dental treatments; dental care respondents were most likely to report delays… | 1 study · 2570 participants | GRADE not reported |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decision-making regarding dental treatments - What factors matter from patients' perspective? A systematic review. 2025 All outcomes | 2007 to January 2021 (initial search 2007 to 2018; update search 2019 to January 2021) | 128 | Not applicable |
Studies behind the findings
The primary studies the full-text reviews tie to this outcome. Reviews with headline outcomes only do not list them here.
- Characterizing Health Care Delays and Interruptions in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Internet-Based, Cross-sectional… · 2021 · included by 1 of these review
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.