Knowledge and perception regarding oral manifestations of COVID-19 among the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Vishnu Dental College—a questionnaire based study

Background: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and its consequences demonstrate that it is a substantial global health threat with symptoms ranging from mild flu to severe pneumonia. The objective of this study was to assess Indian dental school undergraduate and postgraduate students' knowledge and perception of the oral symptoms present in COVID-19 patients. Methods: Dental students were compared for knowledge and perceptions regarding oral manifestations of COVID-19 according to their academic, gender and age. The questionnaire was broken into three parts and comprised 12 questions about oral manifestations in COVID-19 patients' knowledge and perception. Each participant received a WhatsApp message with a shareable Google Drive link. After gathering data, the Pearson Chi-Square test was used to do statistical analysis. Results: This questionnaire survey was completed by 380 dental students. Significant differences were obtained except for one question about knowledge and perception related questions addressing oral manifestations in COVID-19 patients. Only the knowledge-related questions about oral manifestations in COVID-19 patients showed significant differences when compared to perception related questions when compared to gender-related replies. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that dental students have knowledge of identifying the oral manifestations in COVID-19 infected people, and emphasized the importance of every dental student in identifying oral manifestations and relating these manifestations to the severity of COVID-19 infection in order to preserve patients' oral and overall health. © Frontiers of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine.