Virtual education in dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The changes in university education that appeared within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic posed new challenges throughout the world. In the case of dental education, although the implementation of virtual resources had already been tried, a completely virtual approach was a new challenge. The objective of this article is to discuss virtual education in the dental area within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it represents. In conclusion, for the continuation of dental education in a virtual modality, the strategies most used by many universities are the academic platforms Moodle and for videoconferencing, Google Meet and Zoom. Likewise, the perception of this new modality, both by teachers and students, was mostly good; however, it is emphasized that these methods cannot replace the need for face-to-face activities for students to develop their capacities as future dentists.