Quality over quantity – development of communicative and social competence in dentistry at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg

Given the context of implementing new licensing regulations for dentistry, this project report describes not only the current educational situation regarding communicative and social competency in dental education at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg, but also introduces supportive and expanded measures that include medical educators and clinical staff. Based on less-than-satisfactory skills acquisition in students and experienced practitioners, it is necesssary to develop communicative and social competence not just in university courses with few hours of instruction, but also to practice and continually improve these skills in an educational clinical setting which serves as a system for teaching and learning knowledge and skills.