General and Dental COVID-19-related Knowledge of Iranian Dental Academics; a Cross-Sectional Online Study

Dental academics should know COVID-19 to save themselves, the students, and the community during a pandemic. We assessed the knowledge of dental academics regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors associated with it.

This cross-sectional study was conducted online in April 2020 in the dental school of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Two hundred seventy-four participants were selected by a convenient and snowball sampling. This study was part of a multinational study and used a valid and reliable questionnaire. Multiple linear regression models served for statistical analysis in SPSS 21.

Of the 274 respondents, 66.4% were female. COVID-19 total knowledge score was 74.30 (of 100), with dental precautions having the highest domain score of 86.28 and warning signs having the lowest (56.93). Multiple regression models controlling for backgrounds revealed moderate and less academic experience associated with higher transmission and protection knowledge. More patient visits and dealing with fewer students (p=0.021) were associated with lower treatment knowledge, having administrative roles was associated with higher protection knowledge (p=0.043), and men had less knowledge of dental precautions (p=0.049).

Dental academics have an overall rather desirable knowledge, while their knowledge on COVID-19 warning signs is insufficient.