Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health and Professional Psychomotor Skills of Dental Students.

Purpose: To estimate dental students' self-perception of mental well-being (MWB) and its effects on their clinical psychomotor skills (CPS) once they (or their family members) get infected with COVID-19.

Materials And Methods: This is a cross-sectional (n =268) study from a public dental college in Riyadh. We collected data on MWB and CPS. An 18-item online survey was used to collect the responses from the participants. The inter-rater reliability for the finalised survey came out to be 0.86.

Results: The participants (54.3%) who were infected with COVID-19 recorded that their CPS were significantly affected (almost 4 times higher) as compared to others (= 4.02; =0.0004). However, 42.2% reported infection control measures at clinics resulted in bringing significant (=2.22, =0.04) psychological upsets, for those who were infected with COVID-19. Participants (45.1%) also reported that they have difficulty in recalling old memories or information due to the COVID-19 pandemic; among them, 46.7% were the ones who (and/or any family member) were exposed to COVID-19.

Conclusion: The study spotlighted the extent of dental students' MWB and its significant effect on their CPS once (themselves or a family member) infected with COVID-19. Moreover, levels of infection control measures at clinics resulted in psychological upsets for dental students.

Clinical Significance: The issue is fundamental as participants enter the clinical workforce and face the ever-increasing demands of dental practice.