Objectives To assess knowledge, awareness, and practice of health care workers about the role of teledentistry in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Materials and Methods A prevalidated structured questionnaire was used to evaluate awareness of general dentists, postgraduate dental students, dental educators, and consultants with postgraduation degrees toward teledentistry. The acceptability, reliability, and language clarity were also pretested. A total of 510 dental professionals contributed to this study. Statistical Analysis A statistical analysis using SPSS (version 20.0) was performed. Responses were noted as yes or no. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered to be significant. Frequencies described data. Chi-square test was performed for intergroup comparison to evaluate if the knowledge and attitude diverge with the increase in the level of seniority in the profession. Results Awareness regarding teledentistry is high among general dentists with bachelor of dental surgery qualification in comparison to final-year students and postgraduate dental students. The majority of participants agreed with improvement in health care (88.20%), access to rural areas (82.90%), and general practicing dentist agreed with statistically significant difference (0.00) on saving time by teledentistry. Conclusion General practicing dentist was observed with high awareness of teledentistry as compared with postgraduate and undergraduate dental students.

Background Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many dentists have opted for Teledentistry as a mechanism for patient consultation, oral lesion evaluation, diagnosis, and monitoring. The current study explores the challenges faced and potential solutions proposed by dentists practicing Teledentistry in a developing country like Pakistan. Methods A qualitative case study was carried out from January to December 2021. A purposive maximum variation sample of 10 dentists was interviewed in two focus groups. The interview guide was developed using the technology–organization–environment framework. The data was transcribed verbatim using otter.ai. The analysis involved immersion in the data and open coding. The conceptually related codes were synthesized into themes and subthemes. Findings The study found various Personnel, Technological and Organizational challenges, and potential solutions from those practicing Teledentistry. The challenges included operational cost, minimal financial returns, lack of awareness, hardware and software support, and other challenges related to the availability of specialization, accessibility, and institutional encouragement. They suggested Institutional Based Practice, staff training, hiring, development of government regulations, and supporting infrastructures such as designated space, central registry, internet, and using/building software to provide 3D images as solutions. Conclusion Teledentists face Personnel, Technological and Organizational challenges and related potential solutions from those practicing Teledentistry in Pakistan. Government should encourage Teledentistry to reduce long-term costs, encourage preventive services and enable rural access to dental care. They should also involve all stakeholders to develop regulations for practicing Teledentistry in Pakistan.

Introduction: A dental graduate face difficulties in establishing his private setup after graduation. It is essential to introduce entrepreneurial content in undergraduate education. The efficacy of students to launch their practice is known as Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). This study is aimed to asses ESE in order to implement practice management education. Methodology: A quantitative study was conducted in Lahore by selecting two dental colleges i.e. UCD, University of Lahore and De'montomorency College of Dentistry, Lahore. A Pre-validated questionnaire was used that contains 17 items. Descriptive statics were performed. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 23 Results: A total of 216 students participated of the dental colleges involved in the study. Mean score of Entrepreneurial Efficacy was 5.1 Discussion: The students of both institutes somewhat agrees to their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. They felt less confidence in their ability to search, plan and marshal to establish their dental setup. Conclusion: There is a need to introduce entrepreneurial education at the undergraduate level to strengthen the practice management skills of our dental graduates.

Introduction: Digitalization in the 21st century has transformed nearly all aspects of our society, including education. However, many believe that this transformation is occurring with little strategic planning and much may not be ready for all that it brings to the table. The Digital Readiness for Academic Engagement (DRAE) scale is a useful tool and merits validation in different contexts for effective use.Objective: To validate the DRAE scale in healthcare students in Pakistan.Methods: The scale was circulated electronically via Google forms to faculty members of different medical colleges and universities of Punjab using the convenience-sampling method for sharing with their students. A total of 7 institutions participated. The responses were collected from a sample of 1744 undergraduate students. The demographic variables included gender, semester enrolled, and age. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 (for exploratory factor analysis) and AMOS version 26 (for confirmatory factor analysis).Results: The mean age of the respondents stood at (SD=20.55 ± 1.6). The largest proportion of students were from MBBS (41%), followed by allied health science and Dentistry. EFA results in the two-factor model which was confirmed by CFA. The goodness-off indices were achieved by removing four items (1, 2, 7, 8) with factor loading below .80 and by drawing covariance between errors.Conclusion: The original model with 5 factors was not applicable and a 2-factor model was validated by CFA for our context.KEYWORDS: Digital Readiness, Academic Engagement, Medical Education, Digitization & Validation.

Aim: To assess and compare the knowledge and attitude of medical and dental undergraduates towards COVID-19 in current setup Study Design: Cross-sectional Place and Duration of Study: Study was done at Ziauddin university Karachi during the period of October 2020 to December 2020 Methodology: Medical and dental students from 1st year to final year were enrolled in the study. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.71. The questionnaire was consisting of demographic variables, questions regarding the knowledge towards COVID-19 and the attitude of medical and dental students. Analysis was done by using SPSS version-20. Frequency and percentages was used to present the categorical data. Comparison between demographic variables and knowledge score was done by using the independent t-test and one-way ANOVA test as appropriate. p-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: About 56% of participants were female and from 3rd year (25.2%). Comparing with socioeconomic status, the upper class of medical students were having higher score. As the year of study upgraded the students reported higher knowledge score with significant p-values among both medical and dental students. Medical students were having higher knowledge about COVID-19 than the dental students but dental students were having more knowledge about the safety measures. Looking over the attitude, majority of medical students were interested in gaining information about COVID-19. Conclusion: It can be concluded that medical students are having more knowledge about the COVID-19 but the dental students were more aware of the protective measure which should be taken. Both groups of medical and dental students having positive attitude towards limiting the spread of COVID-19.