The "hot seat" experience: a multifaceted approach to the teaching of ethics in a dental curriculum.

The subject of ethics and the teaching of skills associated with ethical reasoning in a predoctoral dental curriculum are as important as clinical skills development, but there is no single approach to teaching ethics in dentistry. This article aims to describe the didactic approach used to teach dental ethics and ethical reasoning in the first year of the D.M.D. curriculum at the University of British Columbia. This descriptive article discusses three main pedagogies employed to teach ethics: the "hot seat" experience via a role-play with a trained actor (standardized patient, SP); small-group presentations of a case workup deconstructing an ethical dilemma; and student reflections from the SP encounters. The approach to dental ethics presented here does not profess to make an otherwise unethical person ethical, but it can give all students the tools to recognize when a dilemma exists, use a process to reason ethically, and ultimately make a good decision. The "hot seat" and the case workup approaches have had a positive impact upon students as illustrated through their reflections; however, further study is needed to better understand the implications of ethical issues in both academic and professional settings.