Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised challenges in adapting to teaching and learning methods in dental education.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the academic activities of undergraduate (UDG) and graduate (GD) dental students in Brazil. Additionally, students' perceptions and attitudes toward teaching activities during this period were analyzed.
Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of Brazilian UDG and GD dentistry students. Data were collected in 2020 through an online, self-administered, and anonymous questionnaire, which comprised 26 questions related to demographic data, activities of the college, family and individual student income, and attitudes and perceptions about e-learning during the pandemic. The data were tabulated and analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results: The sample included 1,166 students (779 UDG and 387 GD). Among these, 425 (54.6%) UDG and 270 (69.8%) GD students remotely participated in teaching activities, of which 42.6% of the UDG considered their performance in e-learning to be bad or very bad and 49.8% of the GD regarded it as good or excellent. The survey also showed that 354 (45.4%) UDG and 102 (26.4%) GD expressed a desire to discontinue the course following the outbreak of the pandemic. Among the GD, 225 (58.4%) said that their experiments were completely interrupted.
Conclusions: This study reveals the poor perception and performance of dental students regarding e-learning. Additionally, the findings suggest a negative impact of the pandemic on dental education in Brazil. Effective measures should be taken to mitigate these significant consequences.
Keywords: Dental education; e-learning; online education.