Strengthening Indigenous cultural competence in dentistry and oral health education: Academic perspectives

Abstract

Introduction: Indigenous Australians continue to experience significant oral health disparities, despite numerous closing-the-gap initiatives. Higher education institutions and accrediting bodies recognise the need to incorporate Indigenous culture more widely into dentistry curricula to address these inequalities. This study aimed to define and explore current Indigenous cultural competence curricula, identify enablers and barriers for integration of Indigenous cultural competence curricula and ascertain innovative strategies to aid students in becoming culturally competent upon graduation, from academics' perspectives.

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 .…”

“…Community‐based education and community service‐learning are examples of experiential learning that were discussed. These “hold the potential to instill awareness of others, foment curiosity, and catalyze self‐reflection, process that may subsequently foster empathy and human compassion.” Such experiences often alleviate the stress associated with the credit and requirements‐focused weight of most dental curricula, which can impact students’ educational experiences …”

“Does this dental mob do eyes too?”: perceptions and attitudes toward dental services among Aboriginal Australian adults living in remote Kimberley communities

“…Gaining and maintaining trust takes time and this is an important aspect in building self-efficacy [ 35 ]. However, this is not naturally incorporated into operative models of dental care or dental curricula where there has traditionally been a heavy focus on treating the tooth rather than the person [ 36 ]. Previous literature also shows that practitioners with more experience tend to work in urban locations and new graduates tend to start their careers in rural practices [ 37 ].…”

Career Development of Academic Staff in Faculties of Dentistry by Means of Mentorship Programs: Protocol for a Scoping Review

“…Unfortunately, there are limited details about dental education in Africa despite the oral health challenges in this continent [22][23][24] and in other countries where inequities in access to oral care are also evident [25]. The presumption that colonization influences dental education in Africa and other places could have contributed to the calls for the decolonization, indigenization, and transformation of oral dental education [26][27][28].…”

“…In light of the recommendation to transform the education of health professionals in order to strengthen health systems in the 21st century [5], professional bodies like the American Dental Education Association have made calls for major changes in the training of oral health professionals [26][27][28][29][30][31]. A 2-phase project named "Advancing Dental Education in the 21st century" is a current driver of change in the United States of America.…”