The Dentistry Course at UFPB was created in 1955. Although the course is recognized for its high-quality technical education in dentistry, through 2014, it has had no leadership and management subject, even though it is known that these skills are critical to the dentist. The aim of this research was therefore to evaluate the perceptions of knowledge about leadership and management of students in the fifth year of the UFPB dentistry course. Students answered a questionnaire and evaluated their current leadership skills on a scale from one (very poor) to five (excellent). On average, they rated themselves best on "Integrity" (4.42 points) and worst on "Advocacy skills" (2.38 points). The "ability to build others' trust" was the aspect considered most beneficial for an oral surgeon, representing 23.08% of responses, while "compassion" was the ability deemed least beneficial, with 34.62% of the responses. All students questioned agreed that it is important to create leadership and management subject in the UFPB dentistry course. Little knowledge of leadership and management has been demonstrated, as well as a great need for creating a leadership course at UFPB.