Dental students' perceptions of and attitudes about poverty: a Canadian participatory case study

This qualitative case study was conducted in a Canadian dental school using a participatory approach and was based on Paulo Freire's theoretical concept of conscientização, a form of critical consciousness that involves awareness of social reality and fosters action towards social justice. The aim of the study was to understand dental students' perceptions of and attitudes about poverty and dental care provided to people living in poverty. It also examined how these perceptions shape students' plans for their professional careers, as well as their opinions on educational strategies to prepare them to work with poor patients. The sources of data generation were semistructured interviews, participant observations, and document analysis. A deductive-inductive thematic strategy was used to analyze the data. Out of a class of thirty-five senior dental students, the authors interviewed a convenience sample of twelve: five male and seven female. The findings suggest that the students had incipient conscientização about poverty-related themes. They perceived poverty as a distant issue and as the responsibility of the government or of the poor individuals themselves. The students did not have plans to work with patients living in poverty in the future and struggled to envision ways to address these patients' needs other than volunteer work. This research supports the need for academic dental institutions to adopt strategies to increase students' critical consciousness about oral health inequities. Reducing oral health inequities is a matter of social justice, and dental care providers are key actors in this endeavor.