Dental Student Perceived Preparedness to Work With Diverse Patients

The US patient population has become increasingly diverse with complex needs and lived experiences. To address existing gaps in dental education, this study explored dental students' self-reported preparedness to provide care to patients with diverse needs and suggestions to enhance the curriculum.

A cross-sectional survey developed by an interdisciplinary team was administered to D1-D4 dental students to assess perceived preparedness to work with patients across diverse social, cultural, and clinical contexts. Open-ended items solicited recommendations for curricular improvement. Descriptive statistics summarized preparedness ratings. Independent-samples t-tests compared pre-clinical (D1-D2) and clinical (D3-D4) students. Open-text responses were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Of 394 eligible students, 187 completed the survey (47.5% response rate), with 113 included in the final analytic sample. On 1-10 scale, students reported moderate preparedness across all diverse identities and experiences, with the lowest preparedness in caring for survivors of sexual violence (M = 4.51), intimate partner violence (M = 4.62), trauma (M = 4.83), and patients with special healthcare needs (M = 4.54), and the highest for patients differing by sexual orientation (M = 7.30), race (M = 7.18), and culture (M = 6.91). Clinical students reported significantly higher preparedness than pre-clinical students across most diverse identities and experiences. Qualitative responses (N = 40) identified recommendations to enhance the curriculum, including opportunities for: (1) Experiential learning, (2) cultural humility, (3) structured communication training, and (4) mentorship/interprofessional education.

Findings demonstrate that dental students reported feeling least prepared to work with patients who have trauma-related experiences and special health care needs, indicating a gap in the areas of greatest complexity and need. Integrating relational, reflective, and equity-oriented competencies into dental training may improve readiness and capacity to provide compassionate, person-centered oral health care.