Assessment of knowledge and perceptions in relation to COVID-19 pandemic among dental professionals during the first 40 days of national lockdown in India

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 ("COVID-19") is an emerging, rapidly spreading disease which was first detected in December 2019 in China. This was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO in January 2020. In connection with this, the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 24, 2020 for 21 days initially, which was extended later. Aim: To assess the knowledge and perceptions in relation to COVID-19 pandemic among dental professionals during the first 40 days of national lockdown in India. Settings and Design: A web-based cross-sectional study. Convenient sampling design was used. Materials and Methods: The survey application Google forms was used for the study. A self-constructed 22-item questionnaire in English language was provided to the participants which required approximately 5 minutes to complete. Statistical Analysis: SPSS version 24 was used. A chi square test was used to investigate the level of association among variables at significance level p<0.05. Results: Out of the 670 participants, 53% were females, 56.1% were aged 25-34 years, and more than half of them were post graduates. A significant proportion of dentists had a good knowledge of its incubation period (70.4%) and modes of transmission (61.8%) and showed positive perceptions of COVID-19 prevention and control. Most participants predicted a change in post lockdown practice. Conclusions: As the global threat of COVID-19 continues unabated, there lies a greater responsibility with the dental professionals in India to educate themselves and the general population regarding the risks and preventive measures of COVID-19.