Ten-year trend of dental emergency visits in China: A cross-sectional study

Background: The demand for dental emergency services has increased in recent years, creating an imbalance between the supply and demand of dental emergency services. To investigate the current status of dental emergency resources and to provide insights for optimizing emergency service allocation, this study examined the characteristics of visits in the biggest dental emergency center in China. Materials and methods: Retrospective study was adopted. The data included 396,383 dental emergency visits across all age groups at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine from 2011 to 2020. Medical records providing age, gender, time, day and disease types were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 206,006 male and 190,377 female patients were included, resulting in a sex ratio of 1.082:1. The most common age group was 19–39 years (35.25%), with infections and swelling being the most frequent emergencies (36.12%). Trauma was more prevalent in males (61.3%), while temporomandibular joint diseases were more common in females (61.5%). The peak time period for significant differences was observed in patient numbers during the Chinese National Day Holiday compared to other holidays (p = 0.002), with similar trends noted for the Chinese Spring Festival (p = 0.049). Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive overview of dental emergency visits in China’s largest center and highlights a substantial increase in cases during holidays, particularly the National Day Holiday. These findings offer evidence for optimizing emergency services allocation, including strategic dentist scheduling during peak periods.