Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patient safety is a critical component of healthcare quality, including dentistry, where preventable errors can cause serious harm. Despite increasing global attention to safety culture and ethical awareness, research in dental education remains limited. The Patient Safety Attitude Scale in Dentistry (PSASD), a newly validated assessment tool, was used in this study to evaluate patient safety attitudes and ethical awareness among dentistry and dental assisting students. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conductedusing convenience sampling among 323 students (244 dentistry, 79 dental assisting) at the University of Health Sciences, Turkey. Data were collected using the PSASD and analyzed with non-parametric tests. Effect sizes (r) were reported alongside p-values. RESULTS: Students demonstrated generally positive attitudes toward patient safety (mean PSASD score = 61.37 ± 9.01), with effect sizes (r) ranging from 0.12 to 0.14 across significant comparisons. Dental assisting students scored significantly higher than dentistry students in Ethical Attitude (p = 0.024, r = 0.13) and in overall PSASD scores (p = 0.035, r = 0.12). Female students scored higher than males in Risk Management (p = 0.023, r = 0.13). Awareness of the patient safety notification system was associated with higher Ethical Attitude scores (p = 0.011, r = 0.14). CONCLUSION: Given the small effect sizes, the results should be interpreted with caution. Both dentistry and dental assisting students showed positive safety attitudes, with assisting students consistently achieving higher scores. However, deficiencies in ethical awareness and error reporting highlight the need for targeted educational efforts, particularly for dentistry students, and support the integration of system-based safety and ethics modules into dental curricula.The cross-sectional design and use of convenience sampling limit the generalizability of the findings.