Dental student response to moral dilemmas

This study was performed to test whether there is any difference in the manner in which freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior dental students respond to dental moral dilemmas. An instrument composed of three dental moral dilemmas was completed by 483 dental students during the first day of class of the fall 1979 semester. An analysis of the results showed that freshmen rated principled reasons more highly than sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It appears that the differences in response to moral dilemmas exist early in the dental educational process, even before students have substantial clinical experience.