Teaching dental public health using a socially accountable approach

Traditional approaches to dental public health education across Europe remain dominated by lecture-based learning which often fail to cultivate critical reflection on inequities, privilege, and the broader social determinants of oral health. Social accountability has been recognized as core competency for dental graduates, requiring dental professionals to align professional practice with the health needs of communities. Community-engaged education is a promising pedagogical model that situates learning within real-world contexts, fosters empathy, cultural competence, and advocacy skills, and strengthens professional identity formation. This paper discusses the Peninsula Dental School’s innovative model, which integrates community engagement, reflective practice, and interprofessional education within a spiral curriculum. Through the Interprofessional Engagement (IPE) module, students collaborate with local community organisations to co-design health improvement projects, critically reflect on their experiences, and gain deeper insight into oral health inequities. Embedding community engagement and social accountability across European dental curricula is both timely and necessary to equip future practitioners to address oral health inequities, meet evolving societal needs, and contribute to a more just healthcare system.