Abstract
Introduction. Oral biology provides a foundation for clinic dental sciences, and its understanding can enhance the quality of dental care. The aim of this study was to evaluate dental student's perception regarding the relevance of oral biology for dentistry and to investigate their attitude toward its learning and study approaches. Materials and methods. A Likert scale-based online questionnaire was administered to second-year undergraduate dental (BDS2) students and also to a group of postgraduate dental students at the College of Dentistry, "King Saud" University (KSU), in the end of the academic year. Results and discussion. The results obtained revealed that both groups considered oral biology relevant to dentistry, a higher relevance being reported by postgraduate students. Lectures and practical sessions were rated as the most important teaching approaches by postgraduates and BDS2 students, respectively. Student presentations received the lowest importance score in both groups. Out of the different learning resources, textbooks received the lowest importance score, while lecture handouts were considered most imperative by both groups. Conclusions.Overall, the attitude of dental students regarding the perceived relevance of oral biology for dentistry was positive, a perception improved with the transition from the preclinical to clinical phases of dental education. Our study has also evidenced a favorable response of undergraduate dental students to teacher-centered learning, as opposed to postgraduate students, who mostly prefer student-centered learning. The present study highlights the importance of a curriculum reform to improve integration of basic and clinical dental sciences for scaling up the learning experience, and potentially improving the quality of dental care.