Year : 2020

Volume : Volume 11

Issue : Issue 2s

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Naseemoon Shaik.
dr.naseemoonshaik@gmail.com

Abstract

Background:  Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) that has been declared a pandemic is producing chaos across the world. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness levels of dental students regarding Coronavirus Disease (COVID-2019) contagion.  Material and methods: This cross-sectional study comprised of 1199 sample. An online questionnaire form was circulated among undergraduate students of various dental colleges in India using a combination of convenience and snowball sampling. The questionnaire was divided into 2 sections: the 1st one contained demographic data, and the second one included assessment of awareness levels (17 questions) among the dental students. The data were subjected to one-way ANOVA for continuous variables and chi-square and Fishers’ exact test for categorical variables. Results: Overall, 74.8 % of dental students were found to have good awareness levels (p= <0.01) and 25.2% with poor awareness levels. Profound awareness levels were significantly observed with interns (78.1%) followed by final years (76.0%); 3rd years (75.2%); 2nd years (74.4%) and 1st years (73.0%) consecutively.  Conclusion: The future dental health care providers were found to have sound knowledge and awareness levels with regards to COVID-19. Newer courses are recommended in the dental curriculum for the students to keep abreast of the knowledge of recent infection trends.

Keywords: COVID-19, Dental Students, India, Dental Education.