Impact of COVID-19 on the self-esteem, psychological and dental esthetics of dental students

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has badly affected the mental health, quality of life, and self-esteem of students worldwide. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to evaluate the psychological impact and self-esteem of dental students using Rosenberg self-esteem scale and PIDAQ during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: This cross-sectional research was conducted amongst the dental students studying at various dental colleges in Karachi, Pakistan from January to May 2022. Evaluation of psychological aspect and self-esteem of students was carried out using "Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ)", and "Rosenberg self-esteem scale" as perceived by students during the pandemic. For data analysis SPSS v24 was used. Data analysis comprised of descriptive analysis, Spearman correlation, One-way Anova and Linear regression. The level of significance of p value was less than 0.05. RESULTS: Overall 332 students participated, among which there were 181 females (54.5%), 151 males (45.5%). Dental self-confidence showed a negative relationship with social influence, psychological effect, and aesthetic concern, while it was positively linked with self-esteem during the pandemic. Social impact demonstrated association with psychological impact, aesthetic concern, and self-esteem, while itwas negatively correlated with dental confidence. Rosenberg score showed positive correlation with all the variables. Statistically significant association was identified for variables when compared with gender. Regression analysis indicated association of age with dental confidence and RSS, while gender with social influence. CONCLUSION: The pandemic, aside from affecting the health of individuals worldwide, also badly affected the wellbeing, mental health, and self-esteem of the dental students. Dental aesthetics plays a crucial role in the mental wellbeing and self-esteem of the students.