A descriptive pilot study of the immediate impacts of COVID‐19 on dental and dental hygiene students’ readiness and wellness

Abstract

Background The ongoing novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has impacted dental students training across the U.S. academic dental institutions by moving classroom instruction to an online modality, limiting patient care, canceling external rotations, and rescheduling of licensure examinations. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the immediate impacts of COVID‐19 on students’ readiness to enter clinical practice or residency and its association with well‐being (anxiety, perceived stress, coping and social support, and resilience). Methods An online REDCap survey was distributed to 407 D1–D4 year dental students and 29 DH3–DH4 year dental hygiene students enrolled at a U.S. dental school. The survey consisted of readiness and wellness measures as well as socio‐demographic variables. Results Overall response rate was 58% (N = 252) ranging from 40% among D4 students to 72% among D1 students. About half (55%) of the respondents were White, a third (34%) Asians and 5% were African Americans. Ninety‐two percent were non‐Hispanics while 62% were female. Overall mean (SD) anxiety score was 6.5 (5.3) and 26% of respondents reported moderate or severe levels of anxiety. Anxiety score differed significantly by gender with females reporting higher anxiety levels, mean (SD) = 7.3 (5.5) versus 5.2 (4.7) for males; P = 0.002). Furthermore, mean anxiety score differed significantly among the dental school classes, ranging from 5.5 (5.3) among D2 students to 11.8 (6.2) in DH4 students (P = 0.02). Conclusion Academic dental institutions need to be responsive to the heightened anxiety and uncertainly levels of students and provide responsive training and support to mitigate its effects.

COVID-19 and Dental and Dental Hygiene Students’ Career Plans

“…These scales include the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) ( Cohen et al 1983 ), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) ( Spitzer et al 2006 ), Social Support Scale (OSS-3) ( Kocalevent et al 2018 ), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) ( Smith et al 2008 ), and the Coping Scale ( Hamby et al 2013 ). These wellness measures have been previously described for this population ( Akinkugbe et al 2020 ).…”

Challenges in clinical dental education during COVID-19 crisis

“…COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the differences between medical and dental institutions in the practical and clinical educational activities. Academic dental institutions are known as competitive and demanding learning communities, where students study preclinical and clinical dental courses designed to equip them with the essential knowledge and skills for licensure and clinical practice [4]. Clinical dental interventions require the integration of students' technical and intellectual skills which require clinically oriented education in both basic medical and dental sciences, in addition to refined practice-based education in clinical dental care.…”

Challenges and Alternatives in Dental Education During the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrative Literature Review

“…The pandemic has had an immediate and dramatic impact on dental education, as institutions face the challenge of reorganizing their infrastructure and teaching strategies (19,20). To increase the safety of students and staff, digital platforms, webinars, exams, and online conferences, among other things, were used to prevent their exposure to the virus.…”

“…Although COVID-19 is generally perceived as something negative, it can be recognized that it has helped new educational modalities gain relevance (20). Online teaching has played an important role in the provision of education and has been a well-accepted strategy for higher education in the world.…”