The Educational Value of Extramural Community-Based Rotations for Final-Year Dental Students

Abstract

Background/Problem: Dental education programs must prepare graduates to deliver competent, ethical, and patient-centered care in diverse practice environments, including settings serving underserved populations. Traditional intramural clinics may not fully replicate the clinical complexity and social determinants of health encountered in community practice.
Innovation: A two-week community-based extramural rotation was integrated into the final year of a predoctoral dental curriculum, placing students in a safety-net clinical setting.
Methods/Implementation: A mixed-methods descriptive program evaluation used standardized pre- and post-rotation surveys and guided qualitative reflections to assess educational impact.
Outcomes: Students reported improved clinical confidence, efficiency, awareness of social determinants of health, and professional identity.
Implications: Community-based extramural rotations represent a scalable educational innovation that enhances practice readiness and supports social accountability across dental education programs. [1,16,17] [6,14] [2–4,7,8] [9,10] [3,4,11–13] [2,15,16]