Knowledge and curricular practices: an analysis on a university-level healthcare course

Implementation of curricular guidelines for undergraduate dentistry courses has made it possible to restructure the curriculum in this field in Brazil. However, changing the legislation is not enough to modify the training. The aims of this paper were to analyze and rethink the role of the dentistry curriculum, through focusing on its dynamics, knowledge and practices. The study involved document analysis and interviews with the players concerned with the educational scenario of the dentistry school in question. Integrated clinical practice was chosen as the central object of this study, because this discipline is considered to be the backbone of the curriculum. Four guiding types of rationale were revealed within the curriculum dynamics: integration, fragmentation, professionalization and market rationale. These types of rationale are not isolated, but interlinked, thereby producing a hidden curriculum marked by various contradictions to the official one.