Reforming Undergraduate Dental Education in Pakistan: The Case for an Integrated Five-Year BDS Curriculum

The quality of a nation's oral healthcare system is closely linked to the quality of its dental workforce. Consequently, the design of undergraduate dental education has significant implications for patient safety, professional competence, and healthcare delivery. The current debate surrounding the duration and structure of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme in Pakistan therefore represents an important opportunity to revisit broader questions regarding the goals, organization, and effectiveness of dental education. Historically, undergraduate dental curricula in Pakistan have largely followed discipline-based educational models characterized by compartmentalized teaching and summative assessment structures. Although these approaches have produced generations of dental practitioners, advances in educational theory and evolving healthcare needs have exposed limitations in traditional curricula. Contemporary healthcare environments increasingly demand practitioners who can integrate biomedical knowledge with clinical reasoning, demonstrate professional competence across multiple domains, and adapt to rapidly changing scientific evidence and technologies. Such expectations necessitate educational approaches that move beyond content transmission towards competency development.