Multicenter Study

. 2020 Nov 2;20(1):399.

doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02308-w.

Knowledge of dental academics about the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-country online survey

Nour Ammar¹, Nourhan M Aly², Morenike O Folayan³, Simin Z Mohebbi^{4

5}, Sameh Attia⁶, Hans-Peter Howaldt⁶, Sebastian Boettger⁶, Yousef Khader⁷, Diah A Maharani⁸, Anton Rahardjo⁸, Imran Khan⁹, Marwa Madi¹⁰, Anas Shamala¹¹, Ola B Al-Batayneh¹², Maher Rashwan^{13

14}, Verica Pavlic¹⁵, Smiljka Cicmil¹⁶, Gabriella Galluccio¹⁷, Antonella Polimeni¹⁷, Davide Mancino^{18

19}, Arheiam Arheiam²⁰, Mai A Dama²¹, Myat Nyan²², Prathip Phantumvanit²³, Jin-Bom Kim²⁴, Youn-Hee Choi²⁵, Jorge L Castillo²⁶, Easter Joury²⁷, Maha M Abdelsalam²⁸, Mohammad M Alkeshan²⁹, Iyad Hussein³⁰, Ana P Vukovic³¹, Alfredo Iandolo³², Arthur M Kemoli³³, Maha El Tantawi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt. nour.ammar@alexu.edu.eg.
² Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
³ Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
⁴ Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Community Oral Health Department, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶ Department of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁷ Department of Public Health, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
⁸ Department of Preventive and Public Health Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia.
⁹ Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
¹⁰ Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Department of Preventive and Biomedical Science, College of Dentistry, University of Science & Technology, Sanaa, Yemen.
¹² Department of Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
¹³ Center for Oral Bioengineering, Barts and the London, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
¹⁵ Department of Periodontology and Oral Medicine, Medical Faculty University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
¹⁶ Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine Foca, University of East Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
¹⁷ Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
¹⁸ Department of Endodontics and Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Strasbourg, 67000, Strasbourg, France.
¹⁹ Department of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, INSERM UMR_S 1121, Strasbourg University, 67000, Strasbourg, France.
²⁰ Department of Community and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya.
²¹ Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Arab American University, Jenin, Palestine.
²² Department of Prosthodontics, University of Dental Medicine, Mandalay, Myanmar.
²³ Faculty of Dentistry, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
²⁴ Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
²⁵ Department of Preventive Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
²⁶ Department of Dentistry for Children and Adolescents, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
²⁷ Centre for Dental Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Dentistry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
²⁸ Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
²⁹ Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Seoul National University Dental Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.
³⁰ Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
³¹ Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
³² Department of Endodontics, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy.
³³ Department of Paediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, School of Dental Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

PMID: 33138810
PMCID: PMC7605331
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-020-02308-w

Multicenter Study

Knowledge of dental academics about the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-country online survey

Nour Ammar et al. BMC Med Educ. 2020.

. 2020 Nov 2;20(1):399.

doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02308-w.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt. nour.ammar@alexu.edu.eg.
² Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
³ Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
⁴ Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Community Oral Health Department, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶ Department of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁷ Department of Public Health, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
⁸ Department of Preventive and Public Health Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia.
⁹ Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
¹⁰ Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Department of Preventive and Biomedical Science, College of Dentistry, University of Science & Technology, Sanaa, Yemen.
¹² Department of Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
¹³ Center for Oral Bioengineering, Barts and the London, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
¹⁵ Department of Periodontology and Oral Medicine, Medical Faculty University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
¹⁶ Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine Foca, University of East Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
¹⁷ Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
¹⁸ Department of Endodontics and Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Strasbourg, 67000, Strasbourg, France.
¹⁹ Department of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, INSERM UMR_S 1121, Strasbourg University, 67000, Strasbourg, France.
²⁰ Department of Community and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya.
²¹ Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Arab American University, Jenin, Palestine.
²² Department of Prosthodontics, University of Dental Medicine, Mandalay, Myanmar.
²³ Faculty of Dentistry, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
²⁴ Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
²⁵ Department of Preventive Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
²⁶ Department of Dentistry for Children and Adolescents, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
²⁷ Centre for Dental Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Dentistry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
²⁸ Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
²⁹ Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Seoul National University Dental Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.
³⁰ Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
³¹ Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
³² Department of Endodontics, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy.
³³ Department of Paediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, School of Dental Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

PMID: 33138810
PMCID: PMC7605331
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-020-02308-w

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic affecting all aspects of life in all countries. We assessed COVID-19 knowledge and associated factors among dental academics in 26 countries.

Methods: We invited dental academics to participate in a cross-sectional, multi-country, online survey from March to April 2020. The survey collected data on knowledge of COVID-19 regarding the mode of transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, protection, and dental treatment precautions as well as participants' background variables. Multilevel linear models were used to assess the association between dental academics' knowledge of COVID-19 and individual level (personal and professional) and country-level (number of COVID-19 cases/ million population) factors accounting for random variation among countries.

Results: Two thousand forty-five academics participated in the survey (response rate 14.3%, with 54.7% female and 67% younger than 46 years of age). The mean (SD) knowledge percent score was 73.2 (11.2) %, and the score of knowledge of symptoms was significantly lower than the score of knowledge of diagnostic methods (53.1 and 85.4%, P < 0.0001). Knowledge score was significantly higher among those living with a partner/spouse than among those living alone (regression coefficient (B) = 0.48); higher among those with PhD degrees than among those with Bachelor of Dental Science degrees (B = 0.48); higher among those seeing 21 to 30 patients daily than among those seeing no patients (B = 0.65); and higher among those from countries with a higher number of COVID-19 cases/million population (B = 0.0007).

Conclusions: Dental academics had poorer knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms than of COVID-19 diagnostic methods. Living arrangements, academic degrees, patient load, and magnitude of the epidemic in the country were associated with COVD-19 knowledge among dental academics. Training of dental academics on COVID-19 can be designed using these findings to recruit those with the greatest need.

Keywords: COVID-19; Dental faculty; Epidemics; Multilevel analysis; Surveys and questionnaires.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

MOF is a Sectional Editor with the BMC Oral Health. MET is an Associate Editor with the BMC Oral Health. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Percentage of correct responses for items of transmission (blue), symptoms (red), treatment (green), diagnosis (orange), protection (grey), and dental precautions (purple)

**Fig. 2**
Percent scores of transmission, warning symptoms, treatment, diagnosis, protection, and dental treatment precautions. Letters a, b, c, and d below the x-axis next to the domain label denote statistically significant differences. All scores were adjusted for the country

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Knowledge of dental academics about the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-country online survey

Affiliations

Knowledge of dental academics about the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-country online survey

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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