Coronavirus Disease 2019 as a Challenging and Transformative Factor in Dental Education: A Literature Review

In many universities, the physical presence of dental students is required to learn the theoretical sciences and clinical skills. These students are at a high risk to get infected with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) because aerosol production and close contact with patients is inevitable. In this review study, the challenges in educating dental students during the COVID-19 pandemic and related solutions are discussed.

MEDLINE, Scopus, Ovid, and Google scholar databases were searched for relevant articles published in English until September 7, 2020. Articles with the target population of specialty/general dentistry students were included and studies associated with graduate dentists or other pandemics were excluded. After quality assessment, 49 studies were included in current review.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption in traditional face-to-face dental education which was replaced by synchronous learning. This type of learning is faced with some challenges, including lack of sufficient facilities and lack of familiarity of involved people. In this situation, teaching and assessment of theoretical modules should continue virtually with high quality. Clinical units should also be organized by grouping students in smaller numbers and more shifts while adhering to new infection control protocols. Research can also be continued on animal models and COVID-19-related subjects.

Improving the structure of theoretical and clinical education in dentistry is recommended to deal with similar crises in the future.