Changes in Dental Students' Entrepreneurial Profile: A 10-Year Comparison

Rapid transformations in the dental labor market and curricular reforms have reshaped the competencies required for new graduates. Entrepreneurial readiness and strategic management skills have become crucial for professional sustainability. This study assessed how the entrepreneurial and managerial perceptions of final-year dental students at the University of São Paulo (FOUSP) evolved over a decade marked by educational and socioeconomic change.

A cross-sectional comparative design included two cohorts of final-year students enrolled in the Management and Planning in Dentistry course in 2014 (n = 107) and 2024 (n = 106). Sixty-three items addressing personal profile, management, entrepreneurship, and professional future were rated on a 4-point Likert scale. Comparative analyses used chi-square tests with Bonferroni correction and complex network analysis with the EBICglasso algorithm applied to polychoric correlations.

The 2014 network revealed fragmented and intradomain connections focused on financial control and infrastructure. By 2024, networks became denser and more cohesive, linking business, entrepreneurship, location, and personal profile domains. Leadership, strategic planning, and competitive differentiation emerged as high-centrality nodes, while purely financial motives lost prominence. Professional confidence and risk readiness remained limited, as item-level analyses revealed persistent hesitation regarding risk acceptance, reliance on external financing, and future professional commitments.

Over 10 years, students' cognitive organization of entrepreneurial practice became more cohesive and strategically structured. The coexistence of structural integration with enduring personal hesitation reveals a critical gap between conceptual preparedness and professional self-assurance, highlighting the need for educational strategies that translate conceptual knowledge into applied competence.