NL residents avoided the dentist during Covid crisis

While the coronavirus crisis threw a spanner in the works of all non-Covid-19 care, dentists seem to have suffered the most severe blow. In April, May and June, the number of people who visited the dentist nearly halved, Statistics Netherlands reported.

In the second quarter of this year, about 11 percent of Netherlands residents visited the dentist. In the second quarter of last year, it was 20 percent.

Fewer people also went to their GP, but the decrease was less pronounced. In the second quarter, 23 percent of Dutch went to their doctor, compared to 28 percent in the same quarter last year.

During the first weeks of the crisis, almost all non-urgent care came to a halt as hospitals filled with coronavirus patients. Dentists were one of the last branches of healthcare to start offering regular care again.