Maintaining the relevance of undergraduate dental curricula through the lens of environmental sustainability

Grantham Scholar Jonathan Dixon investigates the undergraduate dental curriculum with the focus on environmental sustainability.

The project

I am currently a Clinical Academic Fellow in Restorative Dentistry at the University of Sheffield. In addition to my clinical and teaching commitments, I am a staff PhD candidate. My research focuses on the undergraduate dental curriculum and how it evolves in light of emerging challenges within the constraints of existing legislation.

Environmental sustainability affects all sectors and dentistry is not excluded. Dentistry has a significant carbon footprint, forming 4-5% of the healthcare sector’s emissions. This is principally from patient and staff travel, procurement and energy use.

I aim to develop a curriculum development model that incorporates contemporaneous educational practice to support institutions in incorporating new concepts in existing curricula. Environmental sustainability will be the tool to demonstrate how a complex construct can be embedded longitudinally across programmes.

Publications

1. Davies JR, Field J, Dixon J, et al. ARTICULATE: A European glossary of terms used in oral health professional education. European Journal of Dental Education. 2023;27(2):209-222. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12794

2. Dixon J, Manzanares-Cespedes C, Davies J, et al. O-HEALTH-EDU: A scoping review on the reporting of oral health professional education in Europe. European Journal of Dental Education. 2021;25(1):56-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12577

3. Dixon J, Towers A, Martin N, Field J. Re-defining the virtual reality dental simulator: Demonstrating concurrent validity of clinically relevant assessment and feedback. European Journal of Dental Education. 2021;25(1):108-116. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12581

4. Duane B, Dixon J, Ambibola G, et al. Embedding environmental sustainability within the modern dental curriculum— Exploring current practice and developing a shared understanding. European Journal of Dental Education. 2021;25(3):541-549. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12631

5. Field J, Martin N, Duane B, et al. Embedding environmental sustainability within oral health professional curricula—Recommendations for teaching and assessment of learning outcomes. European Journal of Dental Education. n/a(n/a) doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12852

6. Field J, Dixon J, Towers A, et al. Defining dental operative skills curricula: An ADEE consensus paper. European Journal of Dental Education. 2021;25(2):405-414. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12595

7. Field J, Dixon J, Davies J, et al. O-Health-Edu: A vision for oral health professional education in Europe. Eur J Dent Educ. May 2023;27(2):382-387. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12819

8. Serban C, Dixon J, Adam M, Par M, Ligusovà I, Field J. The views of European students on the inclusion of research in undergraduate Oral Health Professional curricula. European Journal of Dental Education. n/a(n/a) doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12917

9. Towers A, Dixon J, Field J, Martin R, Martin N. Combining virtual reality and 3D-printed models to simulate patient-specific dental operative procedures—A study exploring student perceptions. European Journal of Dental Education. 2022;26(2):393-403. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12715

Prizes

Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) Early Career Educator Award 2021

Supervisor

Professor Nicolas Martin

School of Clinical Dentistry

Co-Supervisors

Professor James Field

School of Dentistry, Cardiff University