In an era of uncertainty: Impact of COVID-19 on dental education

Abstract

Purpose/objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic arguably represents the worst public health crisis of the 21^st century. However, no empirical study currently exists in the literature that examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental education. This study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on dental education and dental students' experience.

Methods: An anonymous online survey was administrated to professional dental students that focused on their experiences related to COVID-19. The survey included questions about student demographics, protocols for school reopening and student perceptions of institutional responses, student concerns, and psychological impacts.

Results: Among the 145 respondents, 92.4% were pre-doctoral dental students and 7.6% were orthodontic residents; 48.2% were female and 12.6% students lived alone during the school closure due to the pandemic. Students' age ranged from 23 to 39 years. Younger students expressed more concerns about their emotional health (P = 0.01). In terms of the school's overall response to COVID-19, 73.1% students thought it was effective. The majority (83%) of students believed that social distancing in school can minimize the development of COVID-19. In general, students felt that clinical education suffered after transitioning to online but responded more positively about adjustments to other online curricular components.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted dental education. Our findings indicate that students are experiencing increased levels of stress and feel their clinical education has suffered. Most students appear comfortable with technology adaptations for didactic curriculum and favor masks, social distancing, and liberal use of sanitizers.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; crisis; dentistry; education; medicine; pandemic; public health.