KNOWLEDGE OF HIV/AIDS AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG DENTAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Within a century, COVID-19 is the 9th pandemic to worst hit the entire globe. The dental professionals are directly involved while treating patients in an aerosolized atmosphere. Aim: To assess the knowledge of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic among dental undergraduate students Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a web-based survey instrument (google forms). A total of 366 dental undergraduate students of TMDCH, Chennai participated in the survey. Data obtained was analyzed using SPPS IBM Software. Results: The knowledge on COVID-19 was better than HIV/AIDS, among the dental undergraduate students. Only 25.7% of the respondents had a previous experience of handling HIV positive case and just more than half (56.3%) of the students were willing to treat HIV patient. Mere 25.7% agreed that HIV is a pandemic. For the COVID-19, only 45.6% of the students were confident to treat a positive/suspected patient and just 17.2% knew the types of corona virus. Knowledge on other questions asked was adequate. Dilemma prevailed if COVID-19 could cause diabetes and was air-borne. Conclusion: There has to be an immediate intervention of the dental institutions to raise awareness on pandemics and their protocols while treatment of the patient among dental students through continuing education programs.