We read with interest the recent British Dental Journal article by Plessas and colleagues1 and welcome its clear case for community engaged dental education as integral to the General Dental Council's Safe Practitioner Framework, particularly the competency of social accountability. Their argument is persuasive because it locates learning within real contexts of need, and shows how such experiences strengthen empathy, advocacy, cultural competence and reflective judgement, which are invaluable to safe and effective practice across diverse communities and to advancing public health at the population level.1

Social accountability is more than a curricular theme. It is a guiding purpose that should be visible in the mission of the school, the structure of programmes, assessment strategies and partnerships with civic actors. If dental schools are to produce graduates who are ready to serve the public good, community engaged learning should be longitudinal, purposefully supervised and assessed with authentic inputs from community partners. Mapping these activities to the Safe Practitioner outcomes would make the accountability pathway transparent for students, staff and regulators.

There are practical exemplars. For almost two decades, the Southeast Asian Association for Dental Education (SEAADE) has organised the Student Community Engagement Competition among member institutions across Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, showcasing student-led health promotion and advocacy projects in partnership with local communities and relevant stakeholders. The SEAADE initiative, which first began in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2006 and continuing this year in Taipei, Taiwan, offers a ready template for dental schools to embed social accountability through project planning, implementation and evaluation with community voices at the table. Community engagement education should be a core strand at all training levels, co-designed with communities which grounded with theoretical principles, reflective practice and practicum experiences, so that graduates are well equipped to address structural barriers and advance health equity.2,3 Wider adoption by schools and national bodies worldwide would accelerate the spread of good practice and the establishment of shared standards of evidence

What should be done? First, treat social accountability as an organising principle by integrating community engaged learning across the curriculum, with programme assessment and partner feedback. Second, ensure all dental undergraduates undertake sustained, assessed community engagement, with structured activities that develop and evidence communication, ethical reasoning, and commitment to the public good. Third, build interprofessional and intersectoral coalitions so that learners engage with upstream determinants and able to co-produce solutions with public health principles, education and social care.

A modern dental curriculum must align skills with social purpose, embedding sustained community engagement and interprofessional learning so graduates improve population oral health, not only individual care. Dental education should assess empathy, teamwork, communication and advocacy alongside clinical competence, with community partners helping to shape outcomes. When education is accountable to public need, every graduate becomes credible evidence of dentistry's contract with society.