**2. Materials and Method**

The Ethical Committee Clearance was obtained from Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Saudi Arabia, under IRB No: MUREC-June-10/Com-2020/32-3. This cross-sectional survey was conducted from 1 June 2020 to 31 July 2020 among the people from Saudi Arabia, and the self-administered questionnaire was sent through digital platforms online via google forms. The questionnaire comprised two main parts: first part consisted of demographic data including the region of residence (Riyadh, Al Baha, Makkah, Qassim, Northern Border region, Tabuk, Jazan, Asir, Hail, Madinah, Najran, Eastern, and Al Jouf), gender (male and female), nationality (Saudi and Non-Saudi), age in years (≤20, 21–40, 41–60, >60), number of family members (≤5 and >5), and monthly income of the family (≤10 KSAR and >10 K Saudi riyal (SAR). The second part had three sections as follows: Six questions for perception (P), preventive practice (PRA), and three questions for oral health care perception (D), shown in Table 1. A pilot survey was conducted among the team members that filled and reviewed all the questions. The changes were made accordingly prior to

the distribution of the questionnaire among the participants. The responses obtained from the pilot study were not included in the final data analysis. The validation of the questionnaire was completed and translated into Arabic by a native speaker (AA) and edited prior to distribution. The translations were made accessible in English and Arabic languages. The participants made it an easy and understandable form. The effect of age, gender, nationality, number of family members, and monthly income was considered for evaluating P, PRA, and D regarding COVID-19. The questionnaire was sent as a link via social media to the Saudi Arabian population using Google form. The recruitment and consent to participate in the study followed the participants' willingness to complete the questionnaire. In the perception of the feasibility of analysis "yes" as a positive response and "no" as a negative response. Similarly, we followed the same criteria for all the domains. The mean percentages of the positive responses for all the questions were used for the measurement. The Chi-square tests were used for comparisons of percentages. All the demographic characteristics of participants were presented using summary statistics. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 21.0. Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp); statistical significance was set at a 5% level.

**Table 1.** Questions related to perception (P), preventive practice (PRA), and oral health care perceptions (D).


#### **3. Results**

A total of 2013 participants responded in the study from various regions of Saudi Arabia (Figure 1). The majority of the participants were from the Riyadh region (33.7%), followed by the Asir region (21.5%). Amongst the participants' males were 1088 (54%), and 925 (46%) were females. The distribution of study participants was shown in Figure 1.

The majority (95%) of the total participants was Saudis by nationality, and 59% of the participants confirmed that they had more than five members in their family, and 60% had a monthly income of less than 10 K. The age-wise distribution of participants was ≤20 years (17%), 21–40 years (46%), 41–60 years (34%), and >60 years (3%), respectively. All the demographic characteristics were summarized in Figure 2. The Saudi Arabian population utilized various sources for information on COVID-19, that include the MOH website, Saudi Arabia (55%), social media (24%), news channels (16%), and WHO (4%) see Figure 3.

The mean percentage of positive answers of perception, preventive practices, and oral health practices percentage of achieved scores were summarized in Table 2 based on the study population's demographic characteristics. Amongst the participants' females (70%), Saudis (69%), 41–60 years age group (66%), ≤5 family members (71%), and ≤10 K SAR salary (70%) showed higher mean percentages for perceptions on COVID-19. For preventive practices, females (78%), Saudis (75%), 41–60 years age group (70%), >5 family members (75%), and >10 K SAR salary (75%) achieved a higher mean percentage. While females (26%), Saudis (32%), 41–60 years age group (35%), ≤5 family members (50%), and ≤10 K SAR salary (33%) mean percentages achieved for oral health care perception among population live in Saudi Arabia (Table 2).

**Figure 1.** Distribution of participants based on the region in Saudi Arabia.


**Table 2.** Overall mean percentage scores of perception, preventive practice, and oral health care perceptions.

**Figure 2.** Demographic data of population participated in the study.

**Figure 3.** Details of the source of information utilized by the Saudi Arabian population participated in the study.

The present study results showed that approximately 89.5% of the participants had proper awareness about COVID-19 and its symptoms (Table 3). Understanding the COVID-19 symptoms was significantly less among the non-Saudi participants than the Saudi participants (*p* = 0.000). Awareness on COVID-19 was found to be more in females, those below 60 years of age, having less than five family members, and monthly income of more than 10 K (*p* > 0.05). Amongst the participants' females (90%), Saudis (90%), 41–60 years age group (91%), ≤5 family members (91%), and >10 K SAR salary (91%). There was a statistically significant difference evident in the comparison of nationality and monthly salary. The majority of the males (35%), non-Saudis (55%), and participants belongs to 21–40 years age group (39%), and ≤ 10 SAR monthly salary opined that monthly income is going to affect in lockdown period and the statistically significant was evident (*p* > 0.05). Regarding the financial consumption rate during the lockdown, 55% of the females and 54% of ≤ 10 K SAR monthly salary participants stated that the financial consumption rate would affect (*p* < 0.05). The nationality, various age groups, and the family members' number showed no statistical difference (*p* > 0.05).

The majority of the participants were willing to disclose to hospital authorities if they have suspicious symptoms of COVID-19. Amongst them are males (95%), Saudis (94%), 41–60 years age group (96%), ≤5 family members (95%), and >10 K SAR salary (95%) willing to disclose to the hospital authorities. All the comparisons showed statistically significant (*p* < 0.05). Mixed views were observed regarding preventive practices (wearing a facemask, social distancing, washing hands with soap, and using sanitizer) among the Saudi Arabian population during pandemic based on gender, nationality, age groups, number of family members, and monthly income (Table 4). On the other hand, regarding following the curfew rules, females (69%) than males (54%), Saudis (61%) than non-Saudis (57%), age group belongs to more than 60% (71%) than other age groups committed to the restrictions. There was a statistical difference evident among these comparisons (*p* > 0.05). Regarding refusing family visitors during the lockdown period, two-thirds of females and participants belong to the 41–60 years age group (*p* < 0.05). Regarding the study participants' oral health perceptions, overall, significantly fewer people experienced dental pain or dental discomfort during the lockdown period (Table 5). Amongst, the majority of them were females (37%), non-Saudis (30%), <20 years (38%), and ≤10 K SAR (32%), the findings were statistically significant (*p* < 0.05). Significantly a smaller number of the participants were willing to visit the dentist during the lockdown period, which includes 17% of males (*p* > 0.05), 16% of Saudis (*p* < 0.05), 19% of ≤20 years age group (*p* > 0.05), 35% of them having more than five family members (*p* < 0.05) and 19% ≤ 10 K SAR (*p* < 0.05).



PRA4

PRA5

PRA6

 83% 75% <0.001 \* 77% 79%

Preventive practice

Questions—P1,

 P2, P3 and P4; F = Female; M = Male; NS = None Saudi; S = Saudi; SAR = Saudi riyal; \* Significant *p* < 0.05.

 65% 60%

 0.01

 60% 63%

 0.78

 0.04 \* 79%

 76%

 82%

 81%

 0.18

 78%

 80%

 0.39

 79%

 79%

 0.21

 60%

 58%

 69%

 67% <0.001 \* 63%

 69% 54% <0.001 \* 57% 61% <0.001 \* 63%

 58%

 63%

 71% <0.001 \* 58%

 63%

 62%

 0.52

 61%

 63%

 0.13

 0.44

 62%

 60%

 0.31


**Table 5.** Comparison of the effect of demographic factors on oral health care perception score.

Oral health care perception questions—D1, D2, and D3; F = Female; M = Male; NS = None Saudi; S = Saudi; SAR = Saudi riyal; \* Significant *p* <
