Social accountability in undergraduate dental education: a narrative review

Background: Social accountability relates to the obligation of a health professional school to align education, research, and services with community health priorities. Limited research has examined the role of social accountability in dental education and its potential for addressing oral health inequalities. Aim: The aim of this narrative review is to describe current research of relevance to social accountability in dental education and identify gaps in the literature. Method: A systematic search of the electronic databases PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus, using the terms “social accountability”, “social responsibility”, and “dental education” was undertaken. Articles included in the review were those published between January 1995 and May 2024 which were related to dental professional education and deemed relevant to social accountability. Results and conclusions: Four themes of relevance to social accountability were identified in the literature (curriculum design and delivery, attitudes, social responsiveness, and cultural competence). This review highlights challenges in measuring the community impact of socially accountable approaches in dental education. There is a need for more longitudinal research to assess the long-term impacts of social accountability in dental education. There are also potential implications for policy and research to influence the working environment of dental graduates to enable and support the workforce to apply and embed social accountability in the practice of dentistry.