Three students at Baltimore-based University of Maryland School of Dentistry described what it's like to attend dental school amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by the American Dental Association.
Clinic appointments have been canceled, lectures and exams are all online, and the school's dental faculty treat all emergency cases.
"The thing that I'm sure all of my classmates are worried about is the appointments that we had to cancel," said Dan Yang, one of the dental students. "I think we all just want to provide and care for our patients' needs."
Sometimes it is difficult to discern the professor's main points when learning online and reading PowerPoints, Mr. Yang said. He added that the dental school now requires students to turn on webcams when they are taking exams online.
"Before the break, I had several operative and removable prosthetic appointments scheduled," LaShonda Shepherd, another student at University of Maryland, said. "Some are pretty extensive cases, which have spanned over months, so I was looking forward to finally starting the dentures."
Ben Horn had been treating a patient about to receive final implant crowns and custom abutments. Now Mr. Horn isn't sure when the patient will get his two front teeth.
"The pandemic means so much to so many people. I see my job as a dental student and the hiatus from the clinic as a relatively small issue when compared to what some people are facing right now," Mr. Horn said.