ADA data presented on July 23 at the virtual International Association for Dental Research (IADR) meeting show just how much the organization's members looked for COVID-19 resources in the wake of the pandemic last year.
Beginning in March of last year, the ADA created content to address the needs of dentists around rapidly changing COVID-19 practice guidelines. In her IADR presentation, Ruth Lipman, PhD, from the ADA Science & Research Institute in Chicago discussed how her research team analyzed downloads and visits to glean insights about the strategies and approaches they needed to take.
In April 2020, the ADA received more than 2,360 member queries related to COVID-19, according to the data. Initial guidance on how to mitigate virus transmission generated 16,529 downloads and a document with information sources garnered another 22,176 downloads.
As the pandemic wore on, dentists continued to search for and access COVID-19-related topics. Popular items included a companion document to the initial guidance that defined urgent and emergency care (58,551 downloads) and the return-to-work toolkit (32,441 downloads).
