Impact of COVID-19 on Portuguese Dental Students: A Cohort Study

Introduction: The goal of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Portuguese dental students on their depression, anxiety, temporomandibular dysfunction, academic degree, and oral behaviors.

Methods: The target of this population study was to enroll third-, fourth-, and fifth-year students of the Integrated Master's degree in Dental Medicine at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa-Faculty of Dental Medicine (Viseu, Portugal) in the academic year 2021-2022. Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) symptoms, oral behaviors, anxiety, and depression were assessed using validated questionnaires. The variables under study were (a) age, gender, marital status, academic level, academic degree, medication, and any existing pathologies; (b) questions related to taste changes or thoughts that would indicate (or not) worsening psychological conditions (anxiety and depression). After data collection (Google Forms^®), data were transferred to an Excel file and entered into SPSS^® software. A chi-square test allowed the independence between ordinal or nominal variables. The Spearman correlation test was used to analyze the relationship between variables in the study (significant if p ≤ 0.05).

Results: 98.2% of the students answered the questionnaire. TMD had a prevalence of 35%, and anxiety and depression a prevalence of 29% and 24%, respectively. The results showed that the female gender was the most affected by psychological and temporomandibular disorders. Statistically significant correlations were identified between variables, such as gender and anxiety, TDM, and depression (respectively, p = 0.0001, p = 0.014, and p = 0.026); between TDM and anxiety and depression (respectively, p = 0.001 and p < 0.001); and between performing oral behaviors and TMD, anxiety, and depression (respectively, p = 0.0001, p = 0.0001, and p = 0.006). The variables, such as age and academic degree, did not establish a statistically significant relationship with TMD, oral behaviors, and the two psychological conditions.

Conclusions: It was possible to conclude that there was a moderate prevalence of TMD, anxiety, and depression in the period studied. Moreover, a statistically significant relationship was found between TMD, anxiety, and depression with gender and frequency of OBs; however, no significant association was found for TMD, anxiety, and depression with the age of students and with the academic degree.