Dental Education and Care for Underserved Patients: An Analysis of Students’ Intentions and Alumni Behavior

Abstract

Inglehart, Dr. phil. habil.Abstract: The U.S. surgeon general's report on oral health stressed the importance of providing dental care to underserved patients. The objectives of this study were to explore a) dental students' intentions and dentists' behavior concerning treating underserved patients, b) their perceptions of their education concerning these patients, and c) the relationship between dental education and their attitudes and behavior. Data were collected from 328 dental students (response rate: 77.5 percent) and 234 alumni (response rate: 43.7 percent). Only 67.4 percent of the students and 38 percent of the alumni indicated that their education had prepared them well to treat patients from different socioeconomic backgrounds; 71.3 percent of students and 55.2 percent of alumni responded that they had been well educated to treat patients from different ethnic/racial groups. The findings showed a positive relationship between the degree of curriculum focus on the importance of treating patients from all aspects of society and students' and alumni intentions to provide inclusive patient care to patients from diverse backgrounds. The more students agreed that their dental education had prepared them well to treat patients from different ethnic backgrounds, the more likely they were to report that they intended to treat these patients (r=.12; p=.033). In a similar manner, the more the alumni agreed that their dental education had prepared them well to treat patients in different communities, the more likely they were to treat patients from different socioeconomic backgrounds (r=.18; p=.009). In conclusion, these findings showed that access to oral health care for underserved patients could potentially be increased if dental students were more overtly educated about the importance of treating patients from all segments of society.Mr.

A scoping review on social justice education in current undergraduate dental curricula

“…Didactic lectures were often included with other teaching approaches, such as experiential learning, discussion seminars, problem‐based learning, and community‐based rotations . Scenario‐ and problem‐based learning that use simulations of situations and case studies, respectively, were used to address various topics of interest .…”

Campo institucional da Odontologia para pacientes com necessidades especiais na região metropolitana de São Paulo

“…Para as faculdades que não explicitaram essa intenção, seus dirigentes expressaram seu interesse em desenvolver módulos de extensão e cursos de especialização aplicados à atenção aos PNE. Atividades de extensão universitária têm sido avaliadas favoravelmente como modalidade de integração entre ensino universitário e atendimento odontológico aos PNE (Kimmelman, 1989;Reed, 1989;Wile;Ferguson, 1992;Nunn et al, 2004;Smith et al, 2006 (Stiefel;Truelove, 1985;Erridge, 1986;Glassman;Miller, 1998;Ettinger, 2000;Ettinger et al, 2004;Gallagher;Fiske, 2007 (Ettinger et al, 2004;Hunter et al, 2004;Conselho Federal de Odontologia, 2005;Gallagher;Fiske, 2007).…”

Service-learning's impact on dental students' attitude to community service

“…Dentists' willingness to treat the underserved and their behavior can be shaped during dental school (P. L. Davidson, 2009;Smith, Ester, & Inglehart, 2006). More exposure and experience in providing care to the underserved, especially in community settings other than dental school (a.k.a.…”

“…The authors concluded that the level of preparedness (at least perceived preparedness) during dental school affects not only providers' attitude for caring for the underserved but also their actual intention and behavior to treat the underserved. The authors suggested that access to oral health care for underserved patients could potentially be increased if dental students were more overtly educated about the importance of treating patients from all segments of society (Smith et al, 2006). year from dental school, and community assignments influence only a few of these targeted population groups (Kuthy, Heller, Riniker, McQuistan, & Qian, 2007).…”