Abstract

Introduction: In the previous decade, important social changes have taken place in Cuba that directly impacted on higher education. Objective: To develop a strategic framework for the improvement of the cognitive capacities necessary for the teaching-learning of the treatment with minimal intervention of dental caries during the dental medicine major. Methods: A mixed research was carried out, using the historical-logical, analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive and systemic-structural methods. The main studied variables included strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) and the applicability of strategic actions through qualitative and quantitative criterions. The sample consisted of 30 experts divided into three groups. SWOT and CAME (Spanish initials for correct, confront, maintain and exploit) analyses were used, which evaluated the applicability of actions according to relevance and usefulness, as well as political, technical and economic feasibility. Data were processed in Excel and SPSS. Results: The strategic analysis to address the needs detected in the D plan of studies D for the dental medicine major is detailed in Tables 1-6, available in Zenodo. The strategic actions were considered applicable in both the short (mean 4.40) and long term (mean 4.73), although 13.3 % of the experts had reservations regarding the short term. Most of the objectives obtained means between 4 and 5, but objective 4 showed technical and economic difficulties in the short term. Political, economic and technical feasibility also presented challenges in some objectives, although overall variability was low. Conclusions: A strategic framework was developed, based on problem and potential analysis. The proposed actions to improve cognitive abilities in the treatment of dental caries are feasible in the short and long terms, although with some technical and economic reservations and challenges.