Interest in dentistry in early months of the COVID‐19 global pandemic: A Google Trends approach

Background In early the COVID‐19 pandemic, routine dental treatments have been delayed due to the risk of disease transmission. This delay may lead public to search for information on the Internet for a solution. Objectives This study aims to evaluate the public interest in dentistry in the early months of the COVID‐19 global pandemic in the selected countries. Methods The daily numbers of new COVID‐19 cases were recorded for China, South Korea, Italy, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. For these countries, Internet search interest of the keyword ‘dentistry’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘COVID‐19’, ‘SARS‐CoV‐2’ and ‘pandemic’ in the early months of the COVID‐19 pandemic was evaluated by using Google Trends data. Results In most countries included the public Internet search interest in ‘dentistry+coronavirus+COVID‐19+SARS‐CoV‐2+pandemic’ peaked prior to the peak of new COVID‐19 cases. While a statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the number of new cases and Google Trends data in China, South Korea, Italy and Germany, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed in Turkey. Conclusion The peak public interest in dentistry has been prior to the peak of COVID‐19 new cases in most countries. The use of Internet data can provide useful information about pandemics and many other diseases.