Students in dental education needs both intellectual and technical skills, relevant basic science knowledge and scientific information to offer clinical care to the patients as well as to the community. Dental schools prepare the students with these skills and knowledge throughout their lifetime in dental practice. Incorporate sustainable education in dental curricula and initiating the practice of sustainable dentistry in the dental schools will have a magnifying impact on the dental students in creating awareness and in motivating their willingness to adopt sustainability.
Dental schools should focus on SDG based curriculum and cross-curricular integration. Education is defined as “a cumulative process of development of intellectual abilities, skills and attitudes, all of which form our various outlooks and dispositions to action in life generally”. Education on SDG and instrumenting them as a part of the formal education will bring about a huge change among the professional students.
Curriculum reflecting the objectives of SDG’s in their context to oral health and their relative benefits and effects targeting on all the 17 SDG’s, ranging from eliminating poverty, ending hunger, promoting health and happiness, gender disparity, clean water and sanitation, inexpensive and sustainable energy, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, combating climate change, life below the water, life on land, peace and justice, and forming partnerships to achieve these goals, should be incorporated in the curriculum.
It is a challenging task to educate and reorient the dental students to develop sustainability attitudes, skills, and knowledge, so as to take informed decisions and responsible actions towards environmental sustainability, social justice and economic viability with respect to cultural diversity. The translation of SDGs in terms of dentistry that are to be incorporated in our dental curriculum are represented in
Poverty and its effects on Oral Health.
Concepts of extreme and relative poverty, as well as wealth; and their effects on basic human rights, in terms of access to dental health.
Local, national & global oral health inequalities.
Poverty and its resultant effect as malnutrition, mortality, violence, child labor, modern slavery, leading to environmental stress & shock.
Nutrition, Malnutrition and Nutritional Deficiency Disorder in relation to Oral Health.
Local, Regional, National and Global Nutritional Program.
Food insecurity, depletion of soil quality, climate change and thus the individual’s psychological vulnerability.
Institutions and movements related to hunger and sustainable agriculture like the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Food watch, Slow Food, community-based agriculture, the international movements towards food security.
Concepts and principles of sustainable agriculture and farming, climate-resilient practices, organic farming, biodynamic farming, permaculture, and agro-forestry.
Epidemiology of common oral diseases.
Concept of mental, emotional, environmental health and related behaviors effecting oral health; leading to Xenophobia, addictions to alcohol, tobacco or other drug, low self -esteem.
Oral health care delivery systems, prevention, and management.
Philosophical and ethical conceptions of Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQOL), happiness and well-being.
Indiscriminatory attitudes towards patients with communicable and non- communicable diseases like HIV, hepatitis, mental disorders, or Road Traffic Accidents.
Understanding of overweight, obesity, insufficient physical activity, and unhealthy food.
Important role of Quality Dental Education (Knowledge, values, skills, and competency-based learning) and behavioral modification needed to promote sustainable development.
Encourage inclusive and equitable quality education, fostering lifelong learning.
Empowering young dentists.
Dental awareness campaigns, partnership programmes between dental institutions and dental practices.
Concept of education for sustainable development (ESD) and institutional approach as a key strategy to scale up education for sustainable development.
Developing partnerships between schools, universities and other institutions offering education in different regions of the world and shift as a Sustainable Dental School.
Dental Curriculum should introduce the concept of gender, gender equality and gender discrimination, basic rights of women and girls, (while respecting cultural sensitivity).
Recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect, domestic violence.
Oral Heath for pregnant and lactating mothers.
Understanding the role of education, enabling technology and legislation in empowering and ensuring the full participation of all genders.
This is very important as abundance of water is used during dental treatment.
Education on global water cycle, water distribution, water harvesting, wastewater treatment, recycling, and reuse technologies.
Importance of water, hygiene, sanitation related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies, water patents, landscaping for groundwater recharge as well as integrated water resources management.
Climate change impacts of pollution, water-related ecosystems, water-borne diseases.
Water quality and quantity parameters for oral health.
Biomedical Waste Management.
Infection control and asepsis.
Renewable energy in dental care and their production, supply, demand and usage; their impact on environment.
Encouraging eco-friendly dental practice energies like solar, wind, water, geothermal, tidal.
Concept of energy efficiency and sufficiency in energy usage.
Radiation protection and pollution.
Concept of entrepreneurship, innovation, health economic in dentistry.
Concept of sustained, inclusive, and productive employment.
Dental ethics and work ethics, policies and management.
Dental practice management and career guidance.
Dental ergonomics.
Adopting sustainability of information and communication technology, there by reducing ecological footprint, including supply chains, waste disposal and recycling, encourage quality and sustainable infrastructure, transport systems.
Dental Manpower planning.
Dental collaboration with industries.
Public private partnership in oral health care delivery.
Concept of GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP.
Understanding that ‘inequality’ is a major driver for societal problems and individual dissatisfaction.
Oral health care delivery for vulnerable populations (urban slums, rural areas, tribal areas, old age homes, orphanages, schools for differently abled).
Sustainable Dental Clinic, Hospitals, and Institutions - in terms of space, energy, water, infrastructure, transportation, communication.
Sustainable resilient buildings and spatial planning, waste generation and management (prevention, reduction, recycling, reuse)
Sustainable communities and their dynamics (Green Roofs, rainwater harvesting, sustainable urban drainage)
Preparedness and resilience to weather problems in the future and a culture of prevention.
Interrelation between green production, supply, and value chains in dentistry.
Sustainable food and energy production along with their sustainable consumption coupled with awareness in sustainable lifestyle.
Diet, nutrition counselling and nutrition.
Quality lifestyle, oral health, social impacts of production and consumption.
Tobacco cessation education / counselling.
Legalities regarding media and advertising, enterprises, consumers, etc.
Understanding the hazards like drought, weather extremes, etc. and their unequal social and economic impact
Education about prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies and their connections with energy and climate.
Ethics, climate change, global warming.
Future scenarios and preparedness.
Knowledge about disaster management and pollution control.
Local, national, and global institutions addressing issues of climate changes.
Local, national, and global policy strategies to protect the climate.
Protecting hydrosphere and its habitats.
Education on balancing marine ecology.
Sewage treatment to prevent pollution of water bodies.
Ocean pollutants: plastics, microbeads, sewage, nutrients and chemical.
Management and use of marine resources (renewable and non-renewable).
The oceans and international law: international waters, territory disputes, flags of convenience and their related issues.
Ecology, specific ecosystems and their restoration.
Over-exploitation, dangers of extinction and the possible imbalances.
Evolution and genetics, genetic resources, and ethical aspects.
Ethics in dental profession.
Occupational health and hazards.
Importance of the international human rights framework.
Local, national, international legislative and governance systems.
Upholding justice, inclusion, and peace; and supporting strong institutions in their country and globally.
Prevention of ragging in dental institution.
Role of institutional ethical committee.
Women grievances in workplace.
Consumer protection act.
Organization, structure, policies, power dynamics, shared accountability, and possible conflicts & resolutions procedures to address global challenges.
Global citizenship and shared knowledge.
Importance of industry - academia collaboration.
Collaborative research, engagement and enrichment.
The current dental education is of pedogogical style. It is the combination of teaching methods (what instructors do), learning activities (what instructors ask their students to do), and learning assessments (the assignments, projects, or tasks that measure student learning). The learning approach in pedogogy is transfer of knowledge, acceptance of status quo and its reproduction as evaluated results. Paradoxically, the educators of DESD have to transform students’ thinking and actions. DESD has to be a strategic, clear and provide both systematic and holistic understanding of sustainability, which needs ‘Transformative pedagogy’ in dental education. It uplifts the learners to think critically and be reflective in their learning process, so to contribute actively and mindfully.
Transformative Pedogogy is based on the principles that it allows students to be more perceptive, thoughtful, and deliberate towards outcome.
Transformative learning ensures competence in cognitive, behavioral, and emotional domains and triggers the shift from transmissive to sequential outcomes, so to ensure both personal and societal transformations towards sustainability. The learning in transformative pedogogy will be through gamification, inquiry-based learning, and technology-enhanced learning. Students convey their understanding through debates, class- room group discussions, societal campaigns, students’ clubs/associations/initiatives, community outreach activities, and leadership programmes to represent themselves as conscious and engaged citizens.
The focus of DESD is to nurture individuals’ willingness to take concrete action to support sustainability in their dental practices and offer sustainable dental treatments. Dental Educators must be the key motivator for sustaining behavioral change, who could guide their students to address diverse sustainability issues (waste disposal, single use plastic, energy conservation etc.) in dental practice and advocate for sustainable development. As action towards sustainable development in oral health, students would be involved in the process of designing, implementing and/or developing solutions to the real-world problems observed in our communities.