Abstract
Abstract Objectives The teaching and assessment of soft skills such as ethical behaviour remains a challenge to dental schools. This paper aims to attempt to help the description and retrospective evaluation of a history of dentistry and medical ethics course in the dentistry curriculum of Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University. Methods The study included students (n=78) of the Faculty of Dental Sciences of Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University. History of dentistry and medical ethics are taught each for 1 h, total 2 h per week in the curriculum (theoretical/cases). Students’ academic performance was evaluated with mid-term and final exams. Participants were assessed according to their level of success and failure. Results Participants of the study were 51.3% (n=40) male and 48.7% (n=38) female students. The success rate of the midterm exam was 78.34%, while the success rate of the final was 76.32%. Mid-term exam success was not statistically significantly different than final exam (p>0.215). Conclusions The success of our students in the history of dentistry and ethics course are promising clues for us to propose that there is value in taking the time to teach the course in dental curriculum.
Highlights
The profession of dentistry includes an intertwined science and art applications
This paper aims to attempt to help the description and retrospective evaluation of a history of dentistry and medical ethics course in the dentistry curriculum of Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University
Though dental ethics focuses firstly on issues arising in the practice of dentistry, it is the field of ethics that develops through the examination of the comprehensive problems caused by the developments occurring in bioethics, medicine and biology, and the scientific results that depend on various technological developments on the ethical level [3, 4]
Summary
The profession of dentistry includes an intertwined science and art applications. Science is interested in what can be observed and measured, and a good dentist knows well about the symptoms of oral diseases and how to treat them. The art of dentistry includes the implementation of dental science and technology to the patients in communities. Dental ethics merely means moral duties and imperatives of the dentists to the patients, to the society and to their professional colleagues. It evaluates how we should act best in the light of our duties and possessive as moral agents. Among the variety of ethical issues in dental practice, the most important ones may include: compassion, competence, medical error, autonomy, confidentiality and patient/dentist relationships [5]
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