Students' perspective about the importance of Biochemistry for their career

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the perspective of students in the first year of Dental School regarding the use of knowledge in Biochemistry for clinical applications in their future career beyond the opinion on the adequacy of the content of the disciplines.

Methods: Two simple questionnaires were elaborated consisting of multiple choice and open questions regarding the Biochemistry discipline. The questionnaires were given to first-year dental students at Bauru Dental School, University of São Paulo, at the beginning and the end of their Biochemistry course. The students answered the questions voluntarily and in an unidentified format. The answers were then divided (multiple choice questions) and the written contents (open questions) evaluated, indicating the students' opinion with regards to each question.

Results: Thirty-six students answered the first questionnaire and thirty-eight answered the second one. In the great majority of the multiple choice questions, the predominant opinion was that the Biochemistry discipline is important for their future careers as dentists (80.6%) as well as for their routine clinical setting (78.9%), however some points as integration between theoretical and practical lessons had lesser approval (52.6%).

Conclusions: We may conclude that dental students are aware of the importance of the acquired knowledge in Biochemistry for their future career although they are not yet capable of defining how such knowledge will be applied. The subjects requiring improvement (integration between practice and theory) must be worked through the interest of faculty members and the sincere collaboration of the students, thus providing the required feedback for the amelioration of the course.