[Dental education oriented to various socioeconomic conditions in Panama]

The current system of instruction in the School of Dentistry of the University of Panama is described. The object of the system is to prepare professional people capable of blending biological, techological, and social principles and applying them in different models of dental care for the solution of individual and collective oral health problems. The students take their clinical training in the metropolitan area (clinics on campus and in Santo Tomás Hospital) in the heavily populated rural area (the community hospital and primary schools), and in the sparsely populated countryside (where they work with teams of three auxiliaries in prevention programs for schoolchildren and programs of care for teachers and lend support to community activities).