Implications of State Dental Board Disciplinary Actions for Teaching Dental Students About Emotional Intelligence.

The primary emphasis in dental education is on developing students' cognitive intelligence (thinking) and technical intelligence (doing), while emotional intelligence (being) receives less emphasis. The aim of this study was to explore a potential consequence of the paucity of emotional intelligence education by determining the level of emotional intelligence-related (EI-R) infractions in state dental board disciplinary actions and characterizing the types of those infractions. For this study, 1,100 disciplinary action reports from 21 state dental boards were reviewed, and disciplinary infractions were classified as cognitive intelligence-related (CI-R) infractions, technical intelligence-related (TI-R) infractions, and EI-R infractions. EI-R infractions were then subcategorized into emotional intelligence clusters and competencies using the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI). The results showed that 56.6% of the infractions were EI-R. When the EI-R infractions were subcategorized, the four competencies most frequently violated involved transparency, teamwork and collaboration, organizational awareness, and accurate self-assessment. Understanding the frequency and nature of EI-R infractions may promote awareness of the need for increased attention to principles of emotional intelligence in dental education and may encourage integration of those principles across dental curricula to help students understand the impact of emotional intelligence on their future well-being and livelihood.