Twelve Tips for Developing, Implementing, and Using Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) in Dental Education

Background: Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) can support workplace-based learning, feedback, assessment, and readiness-for-practice decisions in dental and other oral health educations. However, educators may need practical guidance on how to develop and use EPAs across the curriculum. These tips build on established EPA principles and interpret them for dental educators. Their contribution is to provide context-sensitive guidance for applying these principles under the particular conditions of dental and other oral health education while preserving the defining features of EPAs. Aim: This paper aims to provide practical guidance for developing, implementing, and using EPAs in undergraduate dental and other oral health educations. Approach: Drawing on relevant literature and our experiences, we present twelve practice-based tips organized into three phases: development, implementation, and decision-making. Discussion: We believe that carefully developed EPAs can help oral health programs scaffold student progress and make readiness decisions for entrusted clinical participation more explicit for both students and supervisors. When deliberately designed and embedded in routine clinical education, EPAs can support shared expectations, meaningful feedback, individualized development, and defensible readiness-for-practice decisions. In undergraduate oral health education, EPAs can therefore be viewed as a framework for developing, discussing, documenting, and revisiting trust throughout the curriculum.