Abstract Following the presentation of ECFMG in the United States, a Japanese edition of medical education evaluation criteria based on international standards was created in 2012, and medical departments are required to include behavioral science in the curriculum. Therefore, we aimed to systematize medical behavioral science as a new academic field in basic and clinical dentistry, and investigated the syllabi and educational terms that indicate current educational content.

 The syllabi was compiled in academic 2014 for all 29 dental colleges by subject names, number of subjects, grade allocation, and number of credits considered to be included in behavioral sciences. The subject names were various and were widely implemented in the 1st to 6th years. In addition, there were many cases in which placement was made with level awareness in a way that straddled the grade level. The names of the subjects included medical communication, medical personnel training, early experiential education, dental medicine overview, dental history, medical ethics, psychology, medical interviews, medical management, etc. The number of subjects averaged 15.3 (±6.8) and the number of credits averaged 21.6 (±10.8). The academic weightings in the behavioral sciences domain in dentistry education differed significantly between universities. In addition, the terms that should be taught in behavioral sciences include stress and coping, personality, learning theory, patient behavior, self care, self control, self monitoring, group work, coaching, teaching, counseling, cognitive behavior therapy, motivation, etc. The need for learning was high.

 This suggests the need for curriculum guidelines for educational content included in dental behavioral science research.

 Abstract Dentists are required to work not only in their offices but also in the community at times. In Japan, the need for homebound dentistry has grown due to an increase in the elderly population who are unable to visit dental offices. In addition, with the recent increase in natural disasters, dental professionals must consider ways to see patients after a disaster strikes a community. Often, dentists cannot see patients under optimal conditions ; therefore, dental health checkups at schools are considered to be good opportunities for trainee dentists to learn the skills of examining many patients on a non-dental chair without sufficient lighting and X-ray machines. The training of diagnostic ability is essential for good dental treatment, and dentists who are able to give a quick examination outside their office could then give a closer examination and a definite diagnosis in their office. In view of the need for dentists to see patients more often under diverse conditions including homebound dentistry, Hiroshima University introduced dental checkups as part of health checkups for freshmen in 2014, where the role of examiner at dental checkup was assigned to trainee dentists as part of their postgraduate clinical training.

 In the present study, a questionnaire survey relating to dental checkups was conducted for trainee dentists who performed checkups for freshmen and had finished one year of postgraduate clinical training. As a result, they responded that it was worthwhile performing the checkups even in the beginning stages of their training. However, support from their instructors was considered necessary because trainee dentists had not yet built confidence in their diagnostic ability.