COVID-19 Impact on Dental Clinical Education: An Observational Narrative

Abstract

As a means to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic, educational institutes were forced to stop the accustomed face-to-face teaching methods and adopt an online scheme to ensure the continuity of the education process. Furthermore, only a minimal period of clinical training was offered to the students during the pandemic and this highlighted the critical need to expand and improve the dental simulation curriculum. This article aims to highlight the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the students and educators in dental schools. This perspective paper will also discuss the effectiveness of online teaching and the challenges in learning environment at the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya during the pandemic, based on observations and published literature.