ArticleBMC oral health2023
Dentistry's social contract and dental students' moral inclusiveness.
Article in BMC oral health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluation of Dental Student Empathy Scores Using Cognitive and Effective Empathy Measures.Journal of dental education · 2026Article
- Exploring the Education and Perceptions of Dental Professionals Toward Poverty and Oral Health Disparities: A Scoping Review.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2026Article
- Correction: Dentistry's social contract and dental students' moral inclusiveness.BMC oral health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnder dentistry's social contract with the public, dental professionals have a social responsibility to address the oral health needs of the population at large. However, dental education places little emphasis on such moral commitments. By ascertaining dental students' stance regarding these notions, we may be able to inform changes in dental education. This paper thus explores dental students' comprehension of dentistry's social contract using the concepts of moral inclusion, moral community and empathy.
methodsA cross-sectional online survey collected information from undergraduate dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto (N = 430). Moral inclusion was assessed through the breadth of students' moral community by computing a "moral inclusion score" (MIS) from Likert scale responses to statements that asked students about their duty of care for different population groups, wherein a higher MIS indicated a broader moral community and in turn greater moral inclusiveness. Empathy was assessed using Likert scale responses to statements that gauged the extent to which students understood the effect of social determinants on people's health. Association of the MIS with environmental, institutional and student-related factors was also investigated using non-parametric tests and linear regression.
resultsThe survey yielded a response rate of 51.4% (n = 221). Overall, students in this sample were morally inclusive and displayed empathy. Regression results showed that the MIS was most strongly associated with choosing a small town/rural area as a future practice location (β = 4.76, 95% CI: 0.52, 9.01) and viewing patients as consumers (β = -3.71, 95%CI: -7.13, -0.29).
conclusionStudents in this sample made morally inclusive choices, which implied that they had a basic understanding of the obligations under dentistry's social contract. Improving knowledge and experience with regards to addressing the social and economic determinants of oral health and access to oral health care may positively influence students' perceptions of their professional duties under the social contract.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.