Effect of Covid-19 on dental students in dentistry and dental prosthodontics

OBJECTIVES The objective of the present study was to evaluate dental students perceptions about the impact of Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) on their preparedness and to examine students perceptions about future job implications after the pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS In 2021 an anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to dental students attending the same university. This questionnaire consisted of 5 questions concerning students preparation and advantages and disadvantages of online teaching and 9 questions concerning future prospective after graduation. The data collected were statistically analyzed and Chi-squared test was adopted (significance level, p <0.05). SPSS 22.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Chicago, USA) was used to analyse the results. RESULTS The response rate was 94.9% (56 dental students). It was found that most of the students (82.1%) feel that measures taken during pandemic were necessary. The impact of Covid-19 on clinical training affected students' preparedness (p <0.05), while online lessons did not significantly affected theorical aspects. 46.4% of dental students tought that online lessons were worse than traditional teaching but no significant difference was observed (p >0.05). Moreover, most of the participants tought that online exams were similar to traditional exams (p <0.05). 53.6% of dental students said they wanted to start back traditional classroom lessons after a significant reduction of new cases and 33.9% said they wanted to attend to start traditional lessons only after vaccination. More than half of students surveyed (69.6%) said that they are worried about their future work while 23.2% did not know and only 7.1% tought that there will be no difference (p <0.05). In particular, 48.2% of participants felt that they will be less prepared for their future work as dentists and 26.8% tought that they will work less. Future prospectives include: clinical training during the sixth year of University and attendance of short post graduate courses. CONCLUSIONS Dental students tought that their preparedness was significantly affected by Covid-19 in particular for clinical trainings. However, most of students answered that online lessons and online exams were similar to traditional ones. Students fell worried about their future job after the pandemic. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE This emergency has led to a widespread adoption of online teaching and the lessons we learn now will be critical for the future. Dental students feedback can improve teaching and learning strategies and help to improve negative aspects that could affect their future job.