Community‐Based Learning and Its Relevance in Dental Surgeon Education

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Community-based activities are an essential component of the dentistry curriculum. This study evaluated the perception of undergraduate students participating in Community-Based Programmes regarding their importance in professional training as dentists. METHODS: Participants of the 'Happy Smile' project in 2023 and 2024 were invited via WhatsApp and/or e-mail to complete a questionnaire based on Likert scales, designed to collect demographic data and assess perceptions related to the development of skills and competencies established by the Brazilian National Curriculum Guidelines for dental education. RESULTS: Overall, 81.6% of students classified the community-based learning project as 'very important' for their professional training. Among the actions that contributed to the students' educational objectives, the variable 'importance in student training' showed positive correlations with participation in organisational and/or feedback meetings (p = 0.002), participation in training courses on standard operating protocols (p = 0.008), participation in training of educational materials for pedagogical activities (p = 0.002), provision of minimally invasive dental care in schools (p = 0.002), supervised toothbrushing (p = 0.024), and delivery of educational lectures in schools (p = 0.006), among others. Key skills and competencies for oral health promotion included the development of non-verbal communication (p = 0.0001), integration into the social context (p = 0.022), performance of clinical examination and diagnosis (p = 0.0001), adherence to ethical principles (p = 0.0001), and teamwork (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The 'Happy Smile' community-based learning project proved to be highly valuable for the training of future dental professionals across multiple domains. Student involvement in school-based oral health promotion activities was directly proportional to their self-confidence and learning outcomes.