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October 10, 2021
...Dr. Pituch is now the chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at UPMC Mercy and UPMC Shadyside. He’s also the co-founder of Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh free dental clinic — a two-day clinic that provides free dental care to Pittsburgh-area residents...
Q. How did the pandemic affect patients seeking dental care? According to a report commissioned by CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, around 6 million American adults lost their dental insurance due to the pandemic, and 28 million American adults delayed dental care due to cost of care, lack of insurance and/or fear of COVID-19 exposure.
A. Early on in the pandemic the approach was unclear because we really hadn’t faced something like this previously. And so for the time being dental offices were closed in the state.
Some dentists lost staff and weren’t able to open their doors. Of course a lot of patients were afraid of getting infected or going out into public places, and so, as a result, there were a lot of patients who didn't get care that they needed or put off getting something like a simple filling or teeth repair.