Dentistry students after the COVID-19 outbreak has the view of distance education changed

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the change in the anxiety level of dentistry students and their perspective on distance education at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and when the restrictions were reduced to a minimum. Methodology: The participants were undergraduate students of the faculty of dentistry who volunteered to participate in the study (n=297). A questionnaire was prepared, which includes the anxiety of the person during the COVID-19 period and in the last months and the opinions of students about the theoretical dentistry lessons taught with distance education. An Independent sample t-test was used for the comparison of the measurement values ​​between the groups, and the one-way analysis of variance test was used for the comparison of more than two groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between anxiety levels. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Compared to the genders, among the more enthusiastic thoughts in distance education, their thoughts that technology-based education is beneficial, and their thoughts that theoretical education should be realized through distance education, men answered yes at a higher rate than women (p <0.05). Compared to the early times of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was observed that there was a decrease in the anxiety scores of the participants in the last months when their precautions were reduced. Conclusion: It was observed that male students were more inclined to use the internet, according to the findings that technology-based education is beneficial, their preferences for distance education, and they are motivated in distance education. Due to the interruption of face-to-face education and the sudden transition to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to identify the deficiencies in this education method and develop this system.