Evaluation of The Change of Online Search Trend Regarding Orthodontic Treatment Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic in Egypt

Background: COVID-19, a highly infectious disease, has rapidly spreadthroughout the world in a short span of time and led to a major public health issue. Andmost dental clinics were closed. Regular orthodontic visits were strongly and widelyinterrupted. Millions of orthodontic patients were unable to complete their treatmentand missed their monthly visits during this period. Orthodontic patients tend to receiveinformation by using numerous social media platforms and applications to sourcehealth information, look for solutions, and communicate and share experiences. Aim:To evaluate the change in the online search trend regarding orthodontic treatment termsbefore and after the Covid-19 pandemic using google trend data from the Google searchengine in Egypt. Materials and methods: Google Trends application was searchedfor orthodontic treatment terms on Google for the last years from September 2018 toDecember 2021. Then Save the graphs and Excel table for each English and Arabicorthodontic term. Search results were recorded separately for all English orthodontickeywords (Orthodontic, Braces, Braces get, Braces removal, Braces pain, Clearaligners). Results: An increase in all orthodontic English and Arabic term searcheswas observed before covid- 19, and a large decrease in the quantity of orthodonticterm searches was noted during and after the lockdown in 2020/2021. Conclusion: TheCOVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on orthodontic- related search queries. Englishand Arabic terms searches was noted to be increased in quantity before COVID-19 thanduring and after COVID-19.