Teaching cariology in the undergraduate curriculum Latin American Experience

Abstract

Dental caries continues to be a disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In this sense, it is of utmost importance the creation of cariology curricula based on the best scientific evidence available, aimed at dental students as future dentists and responsible for the oral health of populations. Some initiatives have been developed in order to learn about the way cariology is taught in different faculties around the world and to encourage the creation of a consensus to achieve a better structured and unified education in this area (27). However, despite the fact that such initiatives have also been developed in Latin America, the way cariology is taught is not widely known, nor is there any consensus on the curricula in the region. Thus, during the 17th Congress of the Latin American Association of Paediatric Dentistry ALOP in São Paulo, Brazil, the first meeting of paediatric dentistry teachers from Latin American countries on the teaching of cariology in the undergraduate curriculum was held. The experience and conclusions are reported in the present document.