Reflection on the teaching of Cariology in Brazil

Abstract

A lthough a reduction has been observed in the prevalence of dental caries among Brazilian children in the last 30 years, the prevalence among Brazilian adults and elderly people remains high.1 Dental caries is still responsible for significantly impacting the quality of life of many Brazilians. This situation implies that preventive and restorative therapy for caries will continue to be important issues for Brazilian dentists in the coming years.The profile of practicing dentists has been described as traditional, positivist or surgical-operative, with a striking trend towards mechanism, biologism, individualism, specialization and exclusion of alternative practices, with a strong emphasis on dental procedure techniques. 2The traditional set of dentistry skills, characterized by a focus on technical, clinical and biological aspects, needs to be changed and expanded by adding new skills capable of sustaining actions focused on promoting health and based on the comprehensiveness of health care. The training of future dentists needs to consider improving diagnostic skills, and treating and preventing carious lesions, while taking into account the complexity of the microbiological and biological environment, without neglecting the critical socioeconomic influence on oral health.Dentists graduating in this century must be aware of a variety of caries management strategies based on scientific evidence, which have been developed in the last years. Bearing in mind that Brazil has over 200 dental schools, a well-structured dental education system should deliver a high-quality and consistent education in cariology.In 2010 the European Organization for Caries Research (ORCA) and the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) developed a European core curriculum in cariology for undergraduate dental students covering a wide range of important aspects of cariology.3 This document was based on the results of an ORCA/ADEE questionnaire on education in cariology, mailed to dental schools.In Brazil, the ORCA/ADEE questionnaire was translated into Portuguese in 2011, and was used in conducting a survey. The questionnaire comprised 12 questions on how and when cariology has been taught in the country, and was sent to 203 Brazilian dental schools. The dean of each school was asked to forward the questionnaire to the main professor responsible for teacing cariology at the school.A preliminary sample of 73 schools answered and returned the questionnaire. Most of the schools (63%) stated that they had a specific cariology curriculum, taught mainly in three curricular units: Operative Dentistry (35%), Preventive Dentistry (34%) and Pediatric Dentistry (22%).

Cariology education for undergraduate Brazilian dental students

“…Ensino. 1 ORCID iD 0000-0003-1180-9326 Sonia GROISMAN 2 ORCID iD 0000-0003-1153-3841 Marcelo José Strazzeri BÖNECKER 3 ORCID iD 0000-0001-9786-6473 Fabio SAMPAIO 4 ORCID iD 0000-0003-2870-5742 Saul Martins PAIVA 5 ORCID iD 0000-0002-3968-1638 Léo KRIGER 6 ORCID iD 0000-0002-9932-531x Andreas SCHULTE 7 ORCID iD 0000-0002-5533-6578 Jonas Almeida RODRIGUES 8 ORCID iD 0000-0001-8887-2329…”

“…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].…”

Impacto de um modelo 3D da formação e progressão de lesões de cárie como objeto de aprendizagem no treinamento/ensino de alunos de graduação de diferentes contextos, na detecção de lesões de cárie utilizando o ICDAS: estudo multicêntrico controlado randomizado

“…Nesse sentido, algumas iniciativas têm sido desenvolvidas com o intuito de determinar quais seriam as competências básicas que um aluno de graduação deveria desenvolver a respeito desse tópico como futuro profissional em odontologia (Ferreira-Nobilo et al, 2014;Martignon et al, 2014Martignon et al, , 2013Sampaio et al, 2013;Fontana et al, 2012;Schulte et al, 2011b). Ainda que ditas iniciativas tenham resultado em discussões extensas em termos dos conteúdos que devem ser incluídos e ensinados nas faculdades como parte do programa curricular em Cariologia, a preocupação acerca das metodologias a serem utilizadas para ministrar esses conteúdos é insuficiente (Braga et al, 2015) 1 .…”

“…Embora algumas tentativas tenham sido recentemente realizadas em torno do ensino de Cariologia nos currículos universitários (Schulte et al, 2011b;Sampaio et al, 2013;Martignon et al, 2014), não está claro ainda que tipo de abordagem ofereceria um melhor beneficio no desenvolvimento de aptidões na detecção de lesões de cárie (Braga, 2015).…”

Impacto do treinamento teórico-prático mediado por tutores/monitores no desenvolvimento de habilidades de alunos de graduação do Brasil e do México para detecção de lesões de cárie: estudo controlado randomizado

“…Embora, na atualidade algumas discussões venham sendo alavancadas em torno do corrículo de cariologia nas universidades (Schulte et al, 2011a;Sampaio et al, 2013;Martignon et al, 2014) e o tópico de detecção de lesões de cárie venha sendo abordado dentro das pautas, pouco se tem preocupado com a maneira como esse assunto é abordado dento do ensino formal do aluno de graduação.…”