Sir, to determine the use and perceived benefit of webinars and online learning, a brief survey was sent to dentists across the UK; 50 responses were received from a mix of those working in general dental practice, hospital and community.
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, only 17% of dentists had attended a webinar, however, within the last six weeks 64% have done so. For dentists who have engaged with these, 60% had attended five or more, demonstrating a proactive attitude towards learning; 94% found the content beneficial and 92% stated they would attend a webinar in the future, once social distancing measures have been relaxed.
Interestingly, although there is a clear and obvious advantage of face-to-face teaching, 35% would prefer online over face-to-face. We believe this demonstrates the advantages of online education and a possible shift in the future of teaching. Regarding face-to-face study days, dentists felt the biggest barrier to attending was the ability to get time off work (71%), closely followed by the location, and costs involved with travelling, course fees and hotels. Taking time away from clinical practice has obvious financial implications whereas webinars offer the flexibility to study during a clinician's own time. Of course, this can only be a supplement and not a replacement for hands-on training. Will COVID-19 change the future of education in dentistry?
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Bell, J., Mahmood, S. Webinar popularity. Br Dent J 228, 739 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-020-1686-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-020-1686-4