Association for Dental Education in Europe

Learning together to improve oral health and quality of life

Embedding Behaviour Change in Undergraduate Curricula: From Theory to Practice

Wednesday, 20th August 2025 - 14:00 to 15:30
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Timezone: 

Dublin (IST, UTC+1)

Duration: 

90 minutes

Venue: 

Dargan Auditorium TCDBS

Delivered in partnership with Curaden
Pre-register as part of your ADEE 2025 meeting registration
Session synopsis: 
As dental education evolves, there is a growing need to equip future clinicians with the skills to facilitate meaningful, lasting behaviour change in their patients.

Despite evidence supporting the impact of clinician approach and communication in promoting patient health behaviour change, education often views it as supplementary component rather than a core element of clinical training, leaving students ill-prepared to translate theoretical knowledge into effective patient interactions. This workshop aims to discuss integration of behaviour change teaching into dental education, ensuring that graduates are both clinically competent and confident in their ability to engage patients in sustainable health-related behaviour change. Through structured reflection, discussion, and collaborative problem-solving, this session will help educators critically assess existing approaches, identify barriers to move beyond current methods, and develop innovative, evidence-based teaching strategies that are more practical engaging and clinically relevant.

The aim of this session, structured into three interconnected sections; Reflect, Recognise, and Reimagine, is to guide participants through an exploration of how behaviour change is currently taught, the challenges that hinder advancement, and opportunities to redesign curriculum frameworks that render behaviour change education more practical, engaging, and clinically relevant.

Chair: 

Claire C. McCarthy

Clinical Research Fellow / Clinical Teacher Periodontology / Principal Investigator
Kings College London Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences,

Claire graduated from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 2000 and joined King’s College London (KCL) in 2004. She earned a Master’s in Higher and Professional Education from UCL in 2007 and was awarded fellowship of the higher education academy in 2008. She completed a PhD in Clinical Dentistry in 2024 at KCL, focusing on aerosol prevention and ultrasonic device performance. Claire was Programme Lead for BDS1 and BDS2 Periodontology at KCL for eight years and is now a Clinical Research Fellow and Clinical Teacher in Periodontology teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students, supervises clinical sessions, mentors students, and supports Student Selected Components (SSC) research. She is Co-Principal Investigator on multiple research projects investigating ultrasonic devices and aerosol reduction. Her academic interests include pedagogy, scaffolding learning, and linking theoretical knowledge to clinical application. Claire is chair of the Accreditation Committee for the Irish Dental Council and is an external assessor for Malta’s MFHEA. She has served on council of BSDHT and ECG of BSP and is a Visiting Scholar at NYU College of Dentistry, contributing to postgraduate education.

Jeanie Suvan

Clinical University Lecturer Oral Sciences
University of Glasgow Dental School

Jeanie achieved her dental hygiene qualification at the University of Alberta, Canada. Following work in clinical practice and teaching, she moved to the Department of Periodontology, University of Bern, Switzerland, beginning her research activities. After an MSc at the University of Oxford in Evidence Based Healthcare, she completed a PhD in Clinical Dentistry investigating obesity and periodontitis at UCL and more recently, an LLM in Medical Law and Ethics at University of Edinburgh. For many years Jeanie was involved in patient care, post-graduate teaching and clinical research at UCL Eastman Dental Institute Unit of Periodontology where she was Associate Professor and Director of the MSc Dental Hygiene Programme. Her most recent roles include part-time Clinical University Lecturer at University of Glasgow Dental School and Honorary Clinical Lecturer, University of Siena, Italy.

Learning Outcomes: 

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Reflect and evaluate current approaches to teaching oral hygiene methods or risk factor control and patient engagement in dental education.
  • Recognise the barriers that limit the integration of current behaviour change techniques in curricula.
  • Reimagine strategies to address the gap between theoretical knowledge and clinical application of behaviour change principles.

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