RESEARCH ARTICLE

Are Dental Students Aware of and Knowledgeable about COVID-19? A Questionnaire-based Investigation

Francesco Bennardo1 , # Open Modal iD Caterina Buffone1 , # Open Modal iD Leonzio Fortunato1 , * Open Modal iD Amerigo Giudice1 iD Authors Info & Affiliations
The Open Dentistry Journal 23 December 2020 RESEARCH ARTICLE DOI: 10.2174/1874210602014010623

Abstract

Background:

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major global concern.

Objective:

This study aims to evaluate the knowledge of dental students toward COVID-19 in a context of a health emergency.

Methods:

A questionnaire-based survey was drawn up in an online form, to investigate knowledge and awareness level about COVID-19 among dental students at Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Italy. The questionnaire contained socio-demographic questions and 12 questions about definition, contagiousness, symptoms, incubation, source of infection, routes of transmission, treatment and infection control practices related to COVID-19.

Results:

72 dental students responded to the questionnaire-based survey. The participants had 87.6% of the essential knowledge about COVID-19 and 56.9% of the participants had also already heard about similar respiratory diseases. However, only 50% of the responders perceived a greater risk of contagion for dentists than other health professionals.

Conclusion:

Italian dental students had a good level of awareness of COVID-19. The most positive attitude of participants was toward the period of incubation, route of transmission and treatment. The COVID-19 outbreak reminded us the importance of knowledge on cross-infection control. It is essential to further sensitize future dentists to not underestimate the risk of exposure to the virus in dentistry.

Keywords: Community dentistry, COVID-19, Dental students, Knowledge, Public health, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), SARS-CoV-2, Survey.
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