Objective The aims of this study were to investigate the awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of Pakistani medical and dental undergraduate students toward COVID-19 during the surge of its outbreak. Materials and Methods The multicentered, cross-sectional study was carried out nationwide among undergraduate medical and dental students. A convenience sampling technique was used. A self-developed online questionnaire was pretested to be completed by the participants. It was distributed using social media. The survey was comprised of questions related to demographics, health status, general hygiene perception, understanding, and the learning attitudes of the students. Comparisons of the knowledge scores and the attitude responses with the demographic information were done using the independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Chi-square, as appropriate. Results Of the 937 total respondents, 353 (38%) were males and 582 (62%) were females; two students did not mark their gender. Of these, 680 (73%) were dental students and 257 (27%) were medical students. The mean knowledge score of the female dental students (5.15 ± 1.08) was significantly higher than that of the male students (4.87 ± 1.09). Overall, the mean knowledge score was statistically higher among the medical students in comparison to the dental students (5.21 ± 1.15, 5.05 ± 1.09; p = 0.054), respectively. Conclusion The medical and dental students were both aware of the importance of the use of a mask. The medical students had a greater awareness regarding the mode of transmission, symptoms, and origin of COVID-19. However, the dental students showed better understanding of the use of surgical masks and the correct protocol for hand washing. Social media was considered the main source for COVID-19 related information.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected economies all over the world. The ability of an organization to grow is heavily influenced by job satisfaction and employee motivation. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the factors affecting employee motivation and job satisfaction among medical and dental college faculty members in Pakistan, both in the private and public sector, during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Medical and dental college faculty in Pakistan comprised the sample for this multi-centric cross-sectional study. A questionnaire, which was modified from an existing study, was distributed electronically. A student’s independent t-test was applied to compare the mean scores of the responses from public and private sector employees. RESULTS: Of the 466 total respondents, 55 %were female and 45 %male. Public sector faculty reported receiving adequate resources and preferred online teaching. Both public and private sector faculty reported being satisfied with regular workshops and training. Private sector employees demonstrated more satisfaction with workplace safety measures. Public sector faculty highlighted the positive influence of job security and timely salary payments on productivity. CONCLUSION: Faculty members from both the public and private sector find working from home to be easier and better for handling one’s workload. Public sector faculty noted job security, timely salary payments, and an individual’s sense of achievement as sources of motivation. Private institutes are more lacking in ensuring their faculty feel content and satisfied. Measures should be undertaken to improve the level of motivation felt by faculty members, especially in the private sector.

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Objectives: Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has a long history of providing predictable clinical outcomes in dental applications especially in endodontic procedures. This bibliometric analysis aimed at evaluating the advancements of research in mineral trioxide aggregate and its use in the field of dentistry, together with the detection of most significant authors, organizations, countries, journals, papers, and the exploration of commonly used keywords using a structured approach. Materials and method: The search was conducted using the Elsevier’s Scopus database, gathering publication information related to MTA published from 1993 and 2021 July. Metadata comprising of titles, abstracts, keywords, authors, organizations, and countries were obtained. Bibliometric evaluators with respect to authors, articles published, journals, keywords, and top countries were scrutinized. Data was analyzed using VOS viewer. Results: Between 1993 and 2021, an uptrend in the research performed on MTA was identified. Researchers from United States, Brazil, and Iran actively contributed on MTA, while papers from USA were highly cited. The Journal of Endodontics along with International Endodontic Journal were the top contributing academic journals. Hacettepe University, Turkey and Cardiff University from United Kingdom were the top most contributing organizations. Mahmoud Torabinejad was the most cited author. Most commonly used keywords included Mineral trioxide aggregate, silicate, oxide, root canal filling material. Conclusion: The global rise in the number of publications on mineral trioxide aggregate, tremendous networking and citations have been identified amongst various organizations, authors, and nations through this bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a major impact on the educational institutes globally and resulted in the transition from traditional educational systems to online electronic learning methods. OBJECTIVE: This study endeavored to address and compare the dental student’s understanding regarding the Oral Biology course by assessing their knowledge and skills between the students enrolled during 2020 (online teaching) and 2021 (face-to-face teaching). This study also aimed to assess the perception of dental students regarding the virtual mode of teaching. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study evaluated students from two years, in which a retrospective group of dental students enrolled during the academic year 2020 were compared with a prospective experimental group enrolled during the academic year 2021. Knowledge and skills for both years were compared. This comprised of theoretical and practical component. Students also completed a questionnaire that assessed student’s perception regarding online teaching. RESULTS: A total of 98 students of Bahria University Dental College participated. A comparison between grade scores of online and traditional learning groups reported statistically significant differences (p = 0.05*) with regards to short answer question types, viva or verbal questions (p = 0.016*). Strong correlations were observed via the multivariable analysis. All correlations were statistically significant at p < 0.01 level. Learning satisfaction was not satisfactorily observed by the online learning group. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that despite the disruption that the educational sector had to face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the differences in the subjective domain scores, students appeared to like on-campus teaching more than the online teaching, as most students found online learning to be stressful and were quite unsatisfied. However, the difference in mode of teaching did not affect the knowledge and skills of the dental students.