The New Zealand dental journal
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Dental education is a unique form of health professional education. This is because the clinical training component largely occurs within the dental school and involves students carrying out irreversible patient interventions early in their education. Perhaps not surprisingly, previous research indicates that dental education (and particularly the clinical component) is stressful for many students. ⋯ In 2007-2009 questionnaire responses, students identified the kinds of staff feedback which they found constructive or unhelpful while working in patient clinic settings, described their responses to feedback received, and identified ways in which students' clinical learning experiences might be improved. This paper outlines 2007-2009 University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry clinical learning environment survey findings, and relates these to the literature on effective teaching and clinical teaching. It then describes programmatic changes and research initiatives developed in response to student feedback.