Dentistry taught outside college: spaces, actors and contested ground

This study investigated how the ideology of the medical/dental-industrial complex shapes social representations in the dentistry field, driving consumerism and advertising in the dental sector. The data were obtained using semi-structured interviews conducted with 16 dental surgeons working in public and private services and 25 dental students from public and private dental schools and analyzed using the collective subject discourse (CSD) method. We also used field observations at universities, professional associations, conferences and academic seminars, and of social media accompanied by field diary notes. We analyzed the social media accounts mentioned by the interviewees (40 personal, 29 from the educational sector, and 21 of companies in the dental sector) and constructed a CSD with six categories related to the topic. It can be concluded that the medical/dental-industrial complex influences dentists and dentistry students and that social media emerges as an unregulated space for a new dominant actor: the dental surgeon influencer, who uses their popularity on social media to promote consumerism and push the market's agenda, showing indifference to traditional academia and science. The promotion of ethical scientific dissemination is essential. Policies governing the regulation of public health and dental education should address the role played by social media in education.