Transversal Competencies in Oral Health Professionals

Oral health professionals face growing clinical and social complexity. Alongside technical skills, they now need strong transversal competencies such as communication, teamwork, leadership, cultural sensitivity, empathy, resilience, and adaptability. These skills support effective collaboration in multidisciplinary services and improve care for diverse patient groups, especially where oral health inequalities remain high. In many settings, oral health is also becoming more integrated with broader primary care and public health efforts, which increases the need for professionals who can engage communities, work across sectors, and contribute to prevention and health promotion. Strengthening these competencies can help translate clinical expertise into more equitable, patient-centered, and community-relevant oral health outcomes.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how transversal competencies are developed, assessed, and applied across oral health education and practice. While dentistry and oral health training have traditionally prioritized technical competence, recent health education discussions highlight the need to prepare students and practitioners for broader professional roles: delivering person-centered care, collaborating across professions, communicating effectively with patients and communities, and supporting equity-oriented approaches. We seek contributions that clarify which transversal competencies matter most in different contexts, how they influence care quality and public health impact, and what educational or workplace strategies build them reliably over time. The collection also aims to support educators, policymakers, and clinical leaders by consolidating evidence and practical models that strengthen the social and collaborative dimensions of oral health practice.We welcome empirical, methodological, and practice-oriented papers on transversal competencies in oral health professions (including dentistry, dental hygiene, dental therapy, and related fields), across undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing professional development contexts. Submissions may address educational design, assessment, implementation, and real-world impact in clinical or community settings, including cross-cultural or cross-system comparisons. Specific themes of interest include (non-exhaustive):• Competency frameworks for transversal skills in oral health professions• Teaching and learning approaches (e.g., interprofessional education, simulation, service learning, community-based training)• Assessment models, tools, and validated instruments (including psychometrics)• Communication, teamwork, leadership, and conflict management in multidisciplinary care• Cultural humility/sensitivity, equity, and patient-centered care in diverse populations• Resilience, adaptability, professional identity, and wellbeing in training and practice• Impact of transversal competencies on community oral health interventions and outcomes• Cross-cultural, cross-institutional, or cross-country comparisons and implementation challenges Topic editors: Francisco Nociti Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76462/transversal-competencies-in-oral-health-professionals