Tales From Within: Dental Students' Reflective Activities Involving Equity-Deserving Communities

Undergraduate dental training benefits from community service-learning (CSL) placements, in which equity-deserving groups receive oral health care and students can critically reflect on their experiences. This study aimed to thematically explore the moments of revelation and struggle that senior dental students reflected on while providing oral health services to equity-deserving communities in British Columbia, Canada.

Using a cross-sectional design, semi-structured written reflections were collected from three consecutive graduating cohorts of fourth-year dental students (2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25). Reflections were a mandatory component of a community placement course, were approximately 500 words in length, and were prompted as follows: "Describe your personal experience at the assigned community clinic, noting moments of revelation, valuable learning, and/or disappointment for you." An exploratory thematic analysis was conducted using an iterative coding process to identify and interpret categories and themes.

A total of 764 reflections were collected (191-625 words each) from 171 students from all 3 years. Of these, 124 reflections were excluded because they consisted solely of descriptions of procedures performed. Data saturation was reached after in-depth analysis of 205 reflections, yielding four overarching themes, including "learning across differences," and "pause-breathe-refine." These themes were informed by categories highlighting the detrimental impact of overly controlling mentorship styles, implementation challenges imposed by some of the placements, and observation-only experiences on students' learning.

Most reflections described transformative experiences, while others offered less positive practices. Students emphasized the importance of CSL placements for their education, professional growth, and understanding of underserved populations. Students also critically reflected on the impact of controlling mentorship styles and implementation challenges. Future research should examine the long-term impact of CSL activities once these challenges are addressed.