Dental Education

The apprenticeship model of dental education has evolved into a comprehensive professional education. With the advent of social media, smart devices, laptops, tablets, adaptive assessments, and virtual simulations, dental education has evolved from a four-wall institution to one that is available to learners wherever they are. Thanks to technological advancement, students can now easily access information and reusable learning resources from anywhere, to study, and collaborate. Virtual simulators, teledentistry, artificial intelligence, and 3D technology are a few examples of how technology is now used extensively in dental education. One of the biggest challenges in dental education is constantly adjusting and adapting to technological developments and applying them in the classroom and dental practice. Dental disciplines have been integrated to help students improve their spatial ability, interactivity, critical thinking, and clinical reasoning. Dental education must be reevaluated and revitalized to avoid stagnation.

The goal of dental education must be to prepare learners for a lifetime of clinical practice. It must be ethical, empathic, and motivate learners to pursue professional growth during this rapid advancement and transformation. Changes in technology are not only inevitable but exponential. Major changes in how we find and share information are happening more and more frequently. It is incumbent upon us as dental educators to be ready. Developing new evidence through the scientific literature to support innovation in an academic setting that aims to provide patient-centerd care. Therefore, dental educators worldwide must continue to examine scientific evidence and technological advancements to improve educational strategies that incorporate these advancements into our teachings.

This Research Topic will publish articles on such topics as:
- Curriculum mapping
- Education research methods
- Innovative dental education methodologies
- Community-based dental education
- Admission of undergraduate and graduate dental students
- Professionalism and ethics in dental education
- Inter-professional learning and education
- Systematic reviews and meta-analysis that answer dental education research questions

Original Research, Review articles, Hypothesis and Theory (pre-approved by editors), Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy, Perspective, General Commentary, and Opinion articles are welcome.

Keywords: Dental education, survey, diversity, empathy, dental students, artificial intelligence, teledentistry

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.