Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr;8(2):123-130.
doi: 10.1177/23800844211072778. Epub 2022 Feb 10.

Social Justice Education in Dentistry: A Qualitative Analysis and Conceptual Framework

K L Kontaxis  1 , S Esfandiari  1
Affiliations

Social Justice Education in Dentistry: A Qualitative Analysis and Conceptual Framework

K L Kontaxis et al. JDR Clin Trans Res. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Social justice, empathy, and social responsibility are emerging themes in dentistry. Many dental faculties have started incorporating these concepts into their curriculum, but our knowledge of the effectiveness of these initiatives remains limited.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to understand how students and educators perceive the role of social justice education, if any, in the undergraduate dentistry program.

Methods: This qualitative study was performed by using semistructured interviews with students, professors, and clinical faculty at the Université de Montréal dental school from January to May 2020. Eighteen participants were recruited through purposeful sampling until saturation. The interviews were recorded and transcribed integrally. They were coded with QDA Miner 5.0 (Provalis). Thematic analysis was undertaken to elucidate emerging themes via qualitative methodology.

Results: Five themes emerged from the results. Certain students were more inclined to be interested in social justice and participate in voluntary community-based activities. There were gaps in current teaching methods, including a lack of exposure to alternative treatment plans (e.g., extractions vs. endodontic treatments) better suited to patients' financial or social situations. Some barriers to teaching were identified, the most important being a lack of time. Desired teaching of social justice would include increased awareness and active student participation and taking responsibility to motivate action to produce social change. The application of social justice in dentistry involves care that is accessible and adapted to a patient's individual needs.

Conclusion: The results of this study provide valuable insight for the development of a social justice education curriculum in dentistry that can be evaluated and validated to train socially competent dentists who can provide patient-centered care to the community.

Knowledge transfer statement: The results of this study can be used by dental educators and administrators who are looking to incorporate social justice education into their dental school undergraduate curriculum. The findings serve as a starting point to foster discussions and inspire change to reduce inequalities within the dental health care system.

Keywords: competency-based education; cultural competency; dental education; health care delivery; health equity; professional competence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic representation of proposed integration of social justice education in a dental school curriculum.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Conceptual framework: social justice education in dentistry.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. American Dental Association. 2016. Dentist participation in Medicaid or CHIP. Chicago (IL): Health Policy Institute.
    1. Adams M. 2007. Pedagogical frameworks for social justice education. In: Adams M, Bell LA, Griffin P, editors. Teaching for diversity and social justice. Milton Park (England): Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. p. 15–33
    1. Adams ME, Bell LA. editors. 2007. Teaching for diversity and social justice. Milton Park (England): Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
    1. Alraqiq HM, Edelstein BL, Millery M, Byington EA, Leu C-S. 2020. Non-clinical experiences influence dental students’ career plans to care for the underserved. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 31(2):682–699. - PubMed
    1. Batra S, Orban J, Guterbock TM, Butler LA, Mullan F. 2020. Social mission metrics: developing a survey to guide health professions schools. Acad Med. 95(12):1811–1816. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources