Purpose: The core values taught in dental school will arguably stay with the student for their whole career. An instructor has the power to influence a student's education through guidance, mentorship, and encouragement. This influence could be the factor that determines whether a student will become a motivated practitioner. The aim of this study was to identify whether dental schools are providing motivation to students to excel in their career and to become life-long learners.
Methods: A web-based questionnaire was distributed electronically during 2020-2021 to Canadian dental students via email, social media, etc. The questionnaire included questions on demographics, the dental school environment, instructor evaluation, and dental student perspectives on education.
Results: Of the 318 participants, 95.7% indicated their school follows a pass/fail system in some to all courses. Note that 61.2% found didactic components were weighted more heavily than clinical components. A greater number of participants found that their clinical instructors were more invested than their didactic instructors, in seeing their students become successful (53.0%) and excellent (44.6%) in their future careers. A total of 84.7% have not found a mentor, and 76% are not interested. Most participants indicated they are "moderately" motivated by their instructors to take continuing education courses (41.3%) and "not at all" motivated to continue their studies in a hospital (42.1%) or speciality residency program (56.3%).
Conclusions: Instructors, educators, and mentors play a vital role in shaping dental student motivation in didactic and clinical courses, and beyond the school environment. Teaching institutions should incorporate opportunities for mentorship and student feedback to improve the delivery of dental education. Further studies may include assessing the role of mentorship at dental schools.
Keywords: clinical practice; dental schools; dental students; didactic classes; mentors.
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