COVID-19 can be transferred via aerosols. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, dental practitioners, supporting clinical staff and clinical-year dental students are directly exposed to aerosols produced during dental treatment. Thus, the Faculty of Dentistry of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) developed dental guidelines that included a standard operating procedure for clinical settings. This study aimed to assess the adherence of clinical staff and students to dental guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate the nature and extent of difficulties encountered by the faculty members in complying with the guidelines. The dental guidelines were explained to all faculty members, and then an audit form was developed on the basis of the guidelines. A series of clinical audits was conducted on a weekly basis. Afterwards, a survey was conducted to investigate any problems faced by dental clinical staff and students in terms of complying with the guidelines. The percentage of noncompliance to wearing goggles and face shields during dental procedures was 7.1% and 2.1%, respectively. Amongst 128 respondents, 84.1% reported unclear vision due to the fogging of the goggles, whereas 45.2% reported blurred vision when goggles and face shields were worn together. Moreover, approximately 30.2% of the respondents claimed that KN95 masks contribute to difficulty in breathing. Nevertheless, most of the dental clinical staff and students were compliant to the dental guidelines. Noncompliance was mainly caused by the fogging issue when wearing goggles. Thus, this issue should be tackled to prevent the impairment of treatment quality.

Background and Objectives: Every dental student has his/her own learning style. As dental educators, it is mandatory to identify the fact that each individual student may have an inclination of obtaining knowledge and skill in one style over another. The aim of the present study was to determine the learning style preferences of dental students using the Visual, Aural, Read, Write, Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire. Materials and Methods: The VARK questionnaire was distributed to determine the student's preferred mode of learning. Completed questionnaires were scored and tabulated to determine the distribution of VARK preferences. Results: A total of 156 (89%) questionnaires were returned for further analysis. Majority of students have preferred a quad modal style of learning. Whilst only 6.5% from year 1, 5.7% from year 4 and 10% from year 5 who preferred a trimodal. Conclusion: The dental students in this study had varied learning preferences. As dental educators, we need to adopt different methods of teaching in order to reach most of the students and make the educational experience more productive. Keywords: Dental, Learning Preferences, Students

Recently, Industrial Revolution 4.0 has highlighted the key components that will shift the world into digitalization; cybersecurity, cloud computing, mobile technologies, machine to machine, advanced robotics, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), RFID technology, cognitive computing and additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing or better known as 3D printing technology has captivated many researchers due to its many advantages. This study aims to focus on the influence of temperature on the physical properties of the 3D printed structure made from poly(lactic) acid (PLA) with 100% infill. The highest Young’s modulus at the value of 4.42 GPa was obtained with a slight deviation under other samples exposed at the temperature of 70 °C and 80 °C. It was found that the ultimate tensile strength of the 3D printed structure when being exposed at the temperature of 80 °C for a maximized duration of 10 days while the breakage/fracture limit was recorded on samples after the 13rd day exposure at the same temperature. Meanwhile, the highest strain was achieved at 8.04% also during the 13rd day but at 70 °C. In conclusion, post-heat treatment has minimal effect on the Young’s modulus of 3D printed PLA but it was largely effecting the fracture limit of the structure. Therefore, heat treatment at temperature closed to the glass transition temperature of PLA polymer improved the adhesion strength between the printed layer thus enhancing the durability of the specimen under load conditions.