**1. Introduction**

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) originated as a cluster of inexact pneumonia cases in December 2019 in Wuhan, China [1]. At the present moment, it has become a global pandemic, affecting every nation of the world [2]. Experts have reported that when the COVID-19 virus infects someone, the lesions are not limited to their lungs: the virus causes viremia upon entering the human body, resulting in diverse clinical manifestations including fever, fatigue, diarrhea, and some other nonspecific signs and symptoms [3–5]. The COVID-19 is a highly transmissible disease [3]. Due to a high transmissibility rate, the

F.A.; Al-Jandan, B.; Al-Janobi, H.; Alshehry, S.; Abdelhady, A.I.; Farooq, I. Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Students, Assistants, and Faculty of a Dental Institute of Saudi Arabia. *Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health* **2021**, *18*, 13366. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph182413366

**Citation:** Ali, S.; Tauqir, S.; Farooqi,

Received: 31 October 2021 Accepted: 14 December 2021 Published: 19 December 2021

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Saudi government had to enforce social distancing at a population and individual level [6]. To prevent the rapid transmission of the disease, different measures were introduced around the country including the closure of the educational institutes, avoidance of open gatherings, and nationwide lockdown [6,7]. Due to these sudden closures, educational and professional activities were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic [8]. In fact, globally there are more than 100 countries that have reported suspension of teaching activities during the pandemic [9]. Owing to the severity of the situation, many universities halted campus-based teaching and continued with the online teaching [8]. Unfortunately, stakeholders of the institutions (students and employees) were not ready for this sudden switch, and this led to an increase in their stress levels. During the time of this public health emergency, medical caretakers, doctors, paramedics, nurses and medical students were also exposed to high levels of stress both physically and psychologically causing mental health problems [10,11]. The fear of catching the virus has aggravated psychological pressure and mental illness in the said population, making them vulnerable to high stress [12,13]. The pandemic has caused a "mental health catastrophe" causing psychiatric disorders after the COVID-19 outbreak [14]. All the communities became vulnerable and felt threatened by potential health emergencies [15], and during the time of social distancing, homeschooling, home quarantine, and work closures, people need support [16]. Quarantine has a wide range of psychological impacts on an individual's mind, and its effects are long-lasting [16]. Previously, during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, there were high levels of stress seen in the medical students of KSA [17]. Similarly, during the COVID pandemic, perceived stress among school and university students recorded in virtual classrooms was high to moderate [18]. In another study conducted on dental students in Romania, the impact of COIVD-19 was investigated, and findings demonstrated their emotional state being adversely affected [19]. Previously, health care students from the central region of KSA also reported fear and anxiety due to COVID-19 [20]. Depression, anxiety, and fear were reported in a study that was conducted on dental interns in Riyadh, KSA [21]. Considering the importance of mental health, this subject should be investigated further at dental institutions.

Dental schools cater preclinical and clinical students who attend lectures, laboratory sessions, and clinics (treating patients in their senior years). The dental faculty teach and train students both non-clinically and clinically over the period of their course and they all are assisted by dental assistants/ nurses in laboratories and clinics. The authors believe that dental schools are unique in a way that students, faculty, and dental assistants work as a team to learn, train, and treat patients in their clinical practice. Due to the involvement of students, faculty, and assistants with the patients, the fear of contracting COVID-19 is always present, and this issue needs further exploration. COVID-19 caused fear, anxiety, and stress among the academic community specifically those associated with health care [22]. Currently, there are no significant studies on psychological stress levels of dental students, assistants, and faculty after the lockdown and resumption of on-campus educational and clinical activities have begun.

Therefore, it is important to study the effects of such rapidly spreading infectious diseases on the psychological well-being of the current and future frontline warriors. Thus, the goal of the present study was to assess the perceived stress brought by the COVID-19 pandemic amongst students (undergraduates and interns), dental assistants, and the faculty members of the College of Dentistry (COD), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The findings of this study could help establish measures to improve the psychological well-being, and help identify the most vulnerable group so psychological intervention can be directed towards them. Additionally, the results from this study can be taken as a pathfinder to explore psychological stress among dental schools around the country for the development of effective screening tools and strategies for intervention to revitalize psychological resilience among the current and future frontline warriors.
