Objectives

COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the clinical training of dental programmes worldwide. This study aimed to assess the self-reported competencies of dental graduates directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as compared to the cohort before the year 2020.

Materials and Methods

A questionnaire consisting of eight domains with 43 questions was sent to all the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's (UKM) dental graduates of 2019 and 2020 cohorts. The domains were: A) gathering information at chair-side, B) diagnosis, C) treatment planning, D) treatment and prevention, E) community-based, F) management and administrative, G) communication and H) personal management and professional development. Three additional questions were included to assess satisfaction on clinical teaching and supervision, requirements and assessment and cross infection control.

Results

A total of 54 (91.5%) and 45 (100%) questionnaires were returned by the 2019 and 2020 cohorts, respectively. The 2019 cohort consistently perceived their competencies to be high across all the eight domains, and these responses were significantly higher than the 2020 cohort for seven out of the eight domains (p<0.005). The 2019 cohort also consistently perceived their competencies higher compared to the 2020 cohort for 40 out of 43 skills. Eleven skills were deemed to have 'poor ratings', and seven of these skills were rated significantly lower by the 2020 cohort than the other cohort (p<0.005).

Conclusions

The findings of this study highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-perceived competencies of dental graduates. The 2020 graduates reported lower percentages of competent responses, mainly for community-based skills and management and administrative skills, even though they were deemed competent and graduated. The loss of clinical time and the suspension of certain face-to-face activities significantly affected their perceived competencies.