Evolution of clinical reasoning in dental education

The approach to care in dentistry has evolved over the past couple of decades from a narrow focus on oral disease to addressing the psychosocial determinants of oral health. Subsequently, there have been many attempts to reform dental curricula through alternative models of education, such as competency-based and community-based educational models and problem-based learning. These efforts aim to improve the abilities of dental students in problem-solving, critical thinking, professionalism, and social and cultural competence to help them cope with the complexity of dealing with oral health-related issues and the constantly changing evidence underlying the practice of dentistry. However, it is not yet clear how well these educational initiatives meet their objectives or how they influence the reasoning skills of dental students. There is now a need to develop a conceptual framework for clinical reasoning in dentistry grounded on empirical evidence to direct the future evolution of dental education.