To assess how the current COVID-19 epidemic influenced peoples' utilization of emergency dental services in Beijing, China. The first-visit patients seeking emergency dental services before or at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic were retrieved. Their demographic characteristics and the reasons for visiting were recorded and analyzed. There were 2,537 patients involved in this study. Thirty-eight percent fewer patients visited the dental urgency at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic than before. The distribution of dental problems has changed significantly. The proportion of dental and oral infection raised from 51.0% of pre-COVID-19 to 71.9% during COVID-19, and dental trauma decreased from 14.2% to 10.5%. Meanwhile, the non-urgency cases reduced to three-tenths of pre-COVID-19. Within the limitation of this study, the COVID-19 epidemic had a strong influence on the utilization of emergency dental services.

To assess the status of health services provision of public tertiary dental hospitals during the COVID-19 epidemic in China and to evaluate the regional difference of telehealth.

Rapid soft tissue integration is essential for long-term dental implant success. Zirconia is increasingly used as an abutment material owing to its excellent aesthetic properties and biocompatibility; however, it is bioinert, and tissue integration is poor. We developed a feasible surface modification method, exploiting the reactivity of polydopamine (PDA) films to immobilize cell-adhesion peptides (Arg-Gly-Asp, RGD) onto zirconia abutment surfaces. Further, we evaluated the effect thereof on human gingival fibroblast (HGF) behavior and oral bacterial adhesion, which influence the peri-implant soft tissue seal. HGF responses to linear KGGRGDSP and cyclic RGDfK sequences were compared. PDA deposition and covalent coupling of RGD were verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy. The biological behaviors of HGFs on the modified zirconia; i.e., adhesion, spreading, proliferation, gene and protein expression, were elucidated. Biofunctionalization of zirconia with the adhesion peptides significantly enhanced the biological activities of HGFs. Cyclic RGD induced slightly improved cell attachment, spreading, and proliferation, but similar cell differentiation when compared to linear RGD peptides. To assess their antimicrobial properties, the different substrates were exposed to cultures of the early colonizer Streptococcus mutans or the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis, and bacterial adhesion was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and live/dead staining. PDA and PDA-RGD coatings decreased zirconia surface colonization by both bacterial species to similar extents. Thus, PDA-RGD-functionalized zirconia modulates specific HGF responses, while maintaining the antimicrobial activity of the PDA coating. The selective bio-interaction pattern of this surface modification holds great promise for improving soft-tissue integration around zirconia abutments in clinical applications.