Building student professionalism by using Narrative Dentistry

The underutilized technique of narrative dentistry could be helpful in addressing the tension that exists between the need to teach clinical competencies well, and the need to facilitate the development of caring, professionalism and empathy necessary for dental students to become person-centred practitioners. Narrative dentistry, after narrative medicine, aims for affiliation with, rather than professional colonisation of, patient experience and stories. Participants will learn about concepts and practical models of narrative dentistry, participate in a small-group session of “close reading” with narrative and identify strategies to lead students to critically analyze and translate learnings to situations with patients and colleagues.