Perception of Online Lectures among Students of a Medical College in Kathmandu: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 global pandemic has affected all aspects of human life, with education no exception. Online lectures have been practiced in different academic institutions around the world. The objective was to know the perception towards online lectures by the undergraduate students of a medical college. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate students of dentistry, medicine, and nursing at Kathmandu Medical College via self-administered online questionnaire. Data were collected from November to December 2020 after ethical clearance from institutional review committee (Ref. no. 0311202002). Students who had not attended even one hour of online learning per week were excluded. Responses were collected using Google Forms which were analysed in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics are presentedas means, standard deciations, frequencies, and percentages. RESULTS: Out of 318 valid questionnaires, 143 (44.97%) students agreed that online lectures were effective but 138 (43.4%) disagreed that online lectures were more useful than traditional lectures. One hundred and forty five (45.60%) found online classes difficult to concentrate and 175 (55.03%) agreed that they preferred a combination of traditional teaching and online tutorials. Only two (0.63%) students strongly agreed on excellent internet during classes and 104 (32.70%) agreed it caused economic burden. Mean age of participants was 20.75±1.538 years; 202 (63.52%) were females; online learning per week was 18.75±9.157 hours; and duration of online learning was 20.28±9.997 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the students had a positive attitude towards e-learning when compared to similar studies. Further multicentric studies with larger sample size would better demonstrate whether online education partly or fully can be effective adjunct to traditional face to face interaction.

Anxiety among Patients Visiting for Periodontal Therapy in a Tertiary Care Dental Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: The aetiological factors of dental fear include negative information, witnessing or having a bad experience, and negative conditions related to periodontal treatment. Modified Dental Anxiety Scale Nepali version, is one of the tools used in epidemiological studies to measure dental anxiety in adults. The objective was to find out the prevalence of anxiety among dental patients visiting for periodontal therapy in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among patients visiting for periodontal therapy from November 2020 to January 2021 at a tertiary care dental hospital. Ethical clearance from Institutional Review Committee (Reference no. 0311202001) was taken before the study. Convenient sampling was done. A standard questionnaire for dental anxiety was used for data collection after receiving informed consent from the participants. Data were entered and analyzed in Microsoft Excel Sheet. Descriptive data are presented as means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages. RESULTS: Among a total of 311 participants visiting for periodontal therapy, 297 (95.49%) (92.57-97.42 at 95% Confidence Interval) were having anxiety. Among total patients, 113 (36.33%) were fairly anxious, 111 (35.69%) were slightly anxious, 62 (19.94%) very anxious and 11 (3.54%) were extremely anxious. Majority of males 54 (17.36%) were slightly anxious while most females 67 (21.54%) were fairly anxious. Mean Modified Dental Anxiety Scale-Nepali score of all the participants was 11.59±3.808. Extreme dental anxiety was observed in 11 (3.54%) participants 7 (2.25%) females; 4 (1.29%) males. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of anxiety among patients visiting for periodontal therapy in this study was found to be higher compared to other studies done in similar settings.

Orthodontic Management in Aggressive Periodontitis.

Aggressive periodontitis is a type of periodontitis with early onset and rapid progression and mostly affecting young adults who occupy a large percentage of orthodontic patients. The role of the orthodontist is important in screening the disease, making a provisional diagnosis, and referring it to a periodontist for immediate treatment. The orthodontist should be aware of the disease not only before starting the appliance therapy, but also during and after the active mechanotherapy. The orthodontic treatment plan, biomechanics, and appliance system may need to be modified to deal with the teeth having reduced periodontal support. With proper force application and oral hygiene maintenance, orthodontic tooth movement is possible without any deleterious effect in the tooth with reduced bone support. With proper motivation and interdisciplinary approach, orthodontic treatment is possible in patients with controlled aggressive periodontitis.