Context:Due to the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions were ordered to be closed to protect the students from viral exposure. The mode of teaching had to be shifted from face-to-face to digital learning to complete the prescribed syllabi in a stipulated time period according to the academic calendar. Aims: This study aimed to assess the attitude and perception of undergraduate dental students towards computer-mediated teaching during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Settings and Design: A questionnaire study was conducted online using Google Forms among undergraduate students of dental colleges in Central India. Students were informed about the purpose of the study in the welcome screen and those giving consent completed the questionnaire. Methods and Material: A standard pre-tested questionnaire in English was used, which consisted of 3 parts. The first part recorded the demographic data, the second part evaluated the learning and the third part assessed the attitude of the students to computer-mediated learning. Statistical analysis used:A total of 1045 students participated in the study. Response to each question was represented as frequency and percentage. Learning and Attitude Score was calculated and mean score was compared between groups using ANOVA. Results: Most of the students (above 80%) believed the modern education is inconceivable without computer technology. However, only about 30% believed that such teaching can substitute traditional way of learning. Those with advanced skills in computers reported to have better experience with computer-mediated learning (p<0.05). Conclusions: Dental education involves both theoretical and practical training. Due to pandemic situation, the theoretical training was continued using computer technology. The practical training was severely disturbed. It is important to understand how students coped with teaching during the pandemic. Further studies are required to make recommendation and develop methods so the students are trained well during such a crisis situation that may happen in future.

COVID-19, dental education, computer-mediated learning