Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental education in Brazilian institutions: an integrative review

• Main Author: Faria, Fernanda Ramos de
• Publication Date: 2022
• Other Authors: Ferreira, Fernanda Farage da Costa Felipe, Vieira, Fernanda Leal, Campos, Márcio José da Silva, Apolonio, Ana Carolina Morais
• Format: Article
• Language: por; eng
• Source: Revista da ABENO (Online)
• Download full: https://revabeno.emnuvens.com.br/revabeno/article/view/1598
• topic: COVID-19; Educação; Odontologia; COVID-19; Education; Dentistry

The spread of SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent of COVID-19, has become a public health problem of international importance. Among the measures to curb its spread is the suspension of classes in educational institutions. Thus, this integrative review aims to provide an overview of the impact of the pandemic on dentistry education in Brazilian institutions. The Medline, LILACS and SciELO databases were searched using descriptors in English and Portuguese. A total of 60 studies were retrieved, with 17 eligible for full reading. Of these, 4 studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was observed that the emergency remote education (ERE) model through digital tools was the most used remote teaching strategy in Brazilian institutions. ERE allowed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to be felt more mildly by the Brazilian academic community, better engaging students and reducing the anxiety of students and teachers. On the other hand, the deficient technological infrastructure in Brazil contributed to difficulty in replacing clinical activities. This fact is further exacerbated by the difficulty of adapting the physical infrastructure of the institutions when planning to return to in-person activities. Despite numerous strategies employed by Brazilian dental education institutions, they were not reflected in the scientific literature in the indexed databases. Thus, there is a need for studies on this topic so that it is possible to disseminate the experiences lived during the pandemic period.