Covid-19 Knowledge and Perceptions Among Dental Specialists: A Cross-Sectional Online Questionnaire Survey

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Dental Specialists Who Participated in the Study

Characteristics	Conservative dentistry and Endodontics	Oral maxillo-facial surgery	Periodontics	Prosthodontics	Pedodontics	Orthodontics	Total
Gender
Male	32	32	28	34	44	24	194
Female	30	23	34	28	58	29	202
Total	62	55	62	62	102	53	396
Age (Years)
≤30	23	23	29	26	47	28	176
31–35	22	16	19	19	29	12	117
36–40	7	7	5	11	6	2	38
41–45	5	5	1	3	9	7	31
46–50	1	1	5	1	7	4	19
More than 50	4	3	3	1	4	0	15
Total	62	55	62	62	102	53	396

Table 2 Knowledge Scores on COVID-19 Among Dental Specialists

Knowledge	Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics	Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgery	Periodontics	Prosthodontics	Pedodontics	Orthodontics	Overall Scores
Do you know that COVID-19 is a viral infection?	98%	100%	100%	100%	99%	100%	100%
Do you know that COVID-19 is fatal?	81%	93%	81%	74%	75%	82%	81%
Do you know that COVID-19 is transmitted by close contact with an infected person?	95%	98%	100%	98%	98%	100%	98%
Do you know that fever, cough, and shortness of breath are symptoms of COVID-19?	98%	98%	100%	100%	99%	98%	99%
Do you know that the incubation period is COVID-19 is 2 weeks?	90%	91%	94%	92%	96%	96%	93%
Do you think the vaccine is available in markets?	94%	91%	87%	90%	93%	89%	91%
Do you think washing hands with soap and water or sanitizer can help prevent COVID-19 transmission?	84%	91%	95%	97%	90%	93%	92%
Do you know dentists are at a higher risk of COVID-19?	97%	100%	98%	100%	99%	98%	99%
Do you think patients with underlying chronic diseases are at a higher risk of COVID-19?	97%	95%	100%	98%	96%	98%	97%
Do you know that the use of N-95 can help in avoiding COVID-19?	71%	91%	77%	76%	75%	83%	79%

Table 3 Comparison Between Knowledge and Perception Scores (Average Mean Values) Achieved by Various Dental Specialists Using One Way- ANOVA

Details		N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error	95% Confidence Interval for Mean		Minimum	Maximum	P-value
						Lower Bound	Upper Bound
Knowledge	Conservative dentistry and Endodontics	62	9.04	1.43	0.18	8.68	9.41	3.00	10.00	P>0.05
	Oral maxillo-facial surgery	55	9.47	0.87	0.11	9.23	9.71	6.00	10.00
	Orthodontics	53	9.36	0.96	0.13	9.09	9.62	5.00	10.00
	Pedodontics	102	9.2	1.21	0.12	8.95	9.43	2.00	10.00
	Periodontics	62	9.32	0.88	0.11	9.09	9.54	7.00	10.00
	Prosthodontics	62	9.26	0.84	0.10	9.04	9.47	7.00	10.00
	Total	396	9.26	1.08	0.05	9.15	9.36	2.00	10.00
Perceptions	Conservative dentistry and Endodontics	62	5.58	1.96	0.24	5.08	6.07	0.00	8.00	P>0.05
	Oral maxillo-facial surgery	55	5.40	1.69	0.22	4.94	5.85	0.00	8.00
	Orthodontics	53	5.77	1.29	0.17	5.41	6.13	2.00	8.00
	Pedodontics	102	5.53	1.62	0.16	5.22	5.85	0.00	8.00
	Periodontics	62	5.85	1.26	0.16	5.53	6.17	3.00	8.00
	Prosthodontics	62	5.85	1.34	0.17	5.51	6.19	2.00	8.00
	Total	396	5.65	1.56	0.08	5.50	5.81	0.00	8.00

Table 4 Association Between Demographic Variables and the Dental Specialist’s Knowledge and Perception Scores Using the Multivariate Linear Regression Analysis

Details		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	P-value	95.0% Confidence Interval for B
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Lower Bound	Upper Bound
Knowledge	(Constant)	8.87	0.23		38.76	0.00	8.42	9.32
	Age (Years)	−0.04	0.02	−0.10	−2.11	0.03	−0.08	−0.01
	Department	0.01	0.03	0.02	0.46	0.65	−0.05	0.08
	Source	0.41	0.12	0.18	3.57	0.00	0.19	0.64
a. Dependent Variable: knowledge score
Perceptions	(Constant)	5.45	0.37		16.22	0.00	4.79	6.11
	Age (Years)	−0.03	0.03	−0.05	−0.99	0.32	−0.09	0.03
	Department	0.07	0.05	0.07	1.39	0.16	−0.03	0.16
	Source	0.08	0.17	0.05	0.49	0.62	−0.25	0.42
a. Dependent Variable: perceptions score

Table 5 Perception Scores COVID-19 Among Dental Specialists

Perceptions	Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics	Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgery	Orthodontics	Pedodontics	Periodontics	Prosthodontics	Overall Scores
Are you worried one of your family members may get COVID-19?	65%	58%	68%	67%	74%	68%	67%
Transmission of COVID-19 can be prevented using standard and isolation precautions given by WHO, CDC, ADA, etc?	90%	89%	96%	90%	94%	94%	92%
The prevalence of COVID-19 can be reduced by the active participation of health care workers in the hospital infection control program?	84%	76%	81%	80%	92%	79%	82%
If a COVID-19 vaccine is available, would you have it?	73%	75%	79%	77%	86%	76%	78%
Do you think dental treatment should be provided to patients with COVID-19 positive?	74%	78%	83%	71%	79%	82%	78%
Dentists must avail themselves of all information about the COVID-19?	95%	93%	96%	97%	98%	97%	96%
Is the available information about COVID-19 in your professional society sufficient?	39%	38%	38%	42%	31%	52%	40%
Are the government institutions able to control the pandemic?	39%	33%	36%	30%	32%	39%	35%

Figure 1 The details of the source of information utilized by dental specialists who participated in the study.

Table 6 Knowledge and Perception Scores of the Participants Regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019

Details	Details	Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics	Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgery	Periodontics	Prosthodontics	Pedodontics	Orthodontics
Knowledge	Range of scores achieved (maximum)	10	10	10	10	10	10
	Minimum	3	6	7	7	2	5
	Mean	9.5	9.47	9.3	9.26	9.2	9.3
	Median (cut-off point) 8	9.5	10	10	9	10	10
	Good knowledge scores n (%)	77	87	85	84	82	87
	Poor knowledge scores n (%)	23	13	15	16	18	13
Perceptions	Range of scores achieved (maximum 8)	8	8	8	8	8	8
	Minimum	0	0	3	2	0	2
	Mean ±SD	5.58	5.4	5.8	5.8	5.5	5.7
	Median (cut-off point) 8	6	6	6	6	6	6
	Good knowledge scores n (%)	44	49	39	42	45	38
	Poor knowledge scores n (%)	56	51	61	58	55	62