That ‘mushy boxed fog feeling’: dental students’ evaluations of the social and behavioural sciences in dental education

Abstract

This article documents the experiences of two dental educators with responsibility for teaching the Social and Behavioural sciences components of an undergraduate dental programme in the United Kingdom (UK). Many dental undergraduates struggle to see the relevance of behavioural and social science components to their training as dentists, similar to the experiences of medical students. This opinion piece will outline some of the key challenges faced by dental students when studying a social and behavioural science curriculum. It will conclude with an outline of a research project designed to learn more about the learning journey of dental students with the social and behavioural sciences that is currently in progress.

Keywords

• Teaching and learning