Abstract

 Background: COVID-19 is an acute disease in humans caused by a coronavirus, which is characterized mainly by fever and cough and is capable of progressing to severe symptoms and in some cases death. Objective: Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to dental students at Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 187 dental students at Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy (aged from 19 to 25, 28.3% male and 71.7% female). The students were interviewed online using a pre-designed questionnaire. Results: 40.1% of students rated themselves as having negative psychological effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, 80.7% of students worried that they might be infected COVID-19 and 88.2% worried about becoming a source of infection. 97.9% of students confirmed that they would have better infection control when treating patients. There were 5 students (2.7%) feeling regret when choosing to study to become a dentist. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the habits of students to prevent illness such as frequent hand sanitizer, wearing medical masks, limiting contact in crowded places, delaying treatment with high level at-risk of COVID-19 infection patients. Students also feel unsafe while studying clinical modules.