Cariology education for undergraduate Brazilian dental students

ORIGINAL CLINICAL||ORIGINAL CLÍNICO http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1981-863720180003000073428 Cariology education for undergraduate Brazilian dental students Ensino da cariologia para estudantes de graduação em odontologia no Brasil Daiana Back GOUVEA1 ORCID iD 0000-0003-1180-9326 Sonia GROISMAN2 ORCID iD 0000-0003-1153-3841 Marcelo José Strazzeri BÖNECKER3 ORCID iD 0000-0001-9786-6473 Fabio SAMPAIO4 ORCID iD 0000-0003-2870-5742 Saul Martins PAIVA5 ORCID iD 0000-0002-3968-1638 Léo KRIGER6 ORCID iD 0000-0002-9932-531x Andreas SCHULTE7 ORCID iD 0000-0002-5533-6578 Jonas Almeida RODRIGUES8 ORCID iD 0000-0001-8887-2329 ABSTRACT This study sought to provide an overview of current cariology education for undergraduate Brazilian dental students. Data collection was via a Portuguese version of a 12-item questionnaire (Schulte et al., 2011) that was sent to all Brazilian dental schools (n = 219). The response rate was 57.0% (n = 125). Of the schools that returned the questionnaire, 84.8% supported the development of a Brazilian cariology curriculum. The units responsible for teaching cariology were predominantly operative dentistry (49.6%), pediatric dentistry (49.6%), dental public health (44.8%), and cariology (32%). Theoretical teaching of cariology (74.4%) and pre-clinical exercises (63.2%) were cited to occur mainly during the second year of the course, while clinical activities were placed in the third (71.2%) and fourth (64.8%) years. Among respondents, 76.8% of the schools included dental erosion and 86.4% included defects of dental hard tissues, such as abrasion, in teaching cariology. This survey was able to determine the panorama of cariology education in Brazil and to detect some differences among Brazilian geographic areas. The promotion of a workshop to discuss the topics that should be taught to undergraduate dental students and the development of a Brazilian core curriculum in cariology would be likely to reduce the differences in teaching cariology in Brazil. Indexing terms: Curriculum. Dental caries. Teaching. RESUMO Este estudo teve como objetivo apresentar um panorama do ensino de cariologia nos cursos de graduação em Odontologia no Brasil. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de uma versão em Português Brasileiro de um questionário de 12 itens (Schulte et al., 2011) que foi enviado a todas as faculdades de Odontologia brasileiras (n = 219). A taxa de resposta foi de 57,0% (n = 125). Dentre as faculdades que responderam o questionário, 84,8% apoiam o desenvolvimento de um currículo brasileiro de cariologia. As disciplinas responsáveis por lecionar os conteúdos de cariologia são principalmente dentística (49,6%), odontopediatria (49,6%), saúde bucal coletiva (44,8%), e cariologia (32%). O ensino teórico de cariologia (74,4%) e os exercícios de pré-clínica (63,2%) são abordados principalmente durante o segundo ano do curso, enquanto as atividades clínicas ocorrem, em geral, no terceiro (71,2%) e quarto (64,8%) anos. Dentre os respondentes, 76,8% das faculdades incluem erosão dentária e 86,4% incluem defeitos dos tecidos dentários duros, como abrasão, no ensino da cariologia. Essa pesquisa foi capaz de determinar o panorama do ensino da cariologia no Brasil e detectar algumas diferenças de currículo entre as regiões do país. A promoção de um workshop para discutir os assuntos que devem ser ministrados aos estudantes de graduação em Odontologia e para desenvolver um currículo brasileiro de cariologia seria válida para reduzir as diferenças no ensino de cariologia no Brasil. Termos de indexação: Currículo. Cárie dentária. Ensino. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Faculdade de Odontologia. Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2492, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Correspondência para / Correspondence to: DB GOUVEA. Email: <>. 2 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Faculdade de Odontologia, Departamento de Odontologia Social e Preventiva. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. 3 Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Odontologia, Departamento de Odontopediatria. São Paulo, SP, Brasil. 4 Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Faculdade de Odontologia, Departamento de Clínica e Odontologia Social. João Pessoa, PB, Brasil. 5 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Odontologia, Departamento de Odontopediatria e Ortodontia. 6 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná. Curitiba, PR, Brasil. 7 Private Universität Witten. Witten, Renânia, Alemanha. 8 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Faculdade de Odontologia, Departamento de Cirurgia e Ortopedia. Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. 1 ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Como citar este artigo / How to cite this article Gouvea DB, Groisman S, Bönecker MJS, Sampaio F, Paiva SM, Kriger L, et al. Cariology education for undergraduate Brazilian dental students. RGO, Rev Gaúch Odontol. 2018;66(3):239-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1981-863720180003000073428 RGO, Rev Gaúch Odontol. 2018 Jul-Set; 66(3):239-244 DB GOUVEA et al. INTRODUCTION Dental caries has shown a marked decrease in both incidence and prevalence in the Brazilian population [1]. An epidemiological survey performed in 2010 showed that Brazil now presents low caries prevalence in a sample of 12 year old subjects according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification [2]. The disease, however, has a polarized profile in the country since the prevalence is still high among deprived groups [1]. For many years, the dentist profile has been described as traditional and mainly focused on technical aspects of oral health care. However, there is still the need for professionals engaged in oral health promotion to be able to diagnose dental caries and to consider the interaction among biological, environmental, and socioeconomic aspects [3]. Oral health teaching has been fragmented, and because of this, the adequate synthesis of the knowledge is not observed [4]. This model reflects on the biological dentist formation that does not consider social determinants to establish clinical management. This panorama supports the elaboration of a curriculum that provides knowledge integration, early diagnosis, and treatment in a translational perspective. In Europe, a number of dental disciplines have published guidelines specifying the items in their disciplines to be included in the agenda of dental teaching [5-9]. Surprisingly, up to 2010, nothing about cariology education had been written. To overcome this, the European Organization for Caries Research (ORCA) and the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) conducted a survey on cariology education in European dental colleges to obtain data that should serve as basis for the elaboration of a European core curriculum in cariology [10]. Following this, in 2010, the first consensus workshop for the development of a cariology core curriculum was held in Berlin. During this event, the participants discussed and agreed on the most relevant items regarding teaching cariology [11]. In Latin America, efforts have been made to investigate the state of te (...truncated)