Eight Board Games Bring Oral Pathology and Microbiology into Dental Classrooms

A team of dental educators has assembled a compendium of eight board game-based learning models designed to teach Oral Pathology, Oral Histology, and Microbiology to undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery students. The work, published as an open-access research paper in BMC Medical Education, presents the games as a descriptive collection rather than a tested intervention, documenting how tabletop formats can be mapped onto specific learning objectives within a dental curriculum.

The authors position the compendium against a broader shift in dental education toward active learning strategies that promote engagement, knowledge retention, and critical thinking. Game-based learning, they argue, can transform traditional learning environments into interactive educational experiences, and board games in particular offer opportunities for collaborative learning, immediate feedback, and reinforcement of key concepts in health professions education.

Each of the eight games was developed according to defined learning objectives, curricular requirements, and established principles of educational game-based learning. The designs draw on a range of activity types, including visual recognition, problem-solving, matching exercises, puzzle-solving, clue-based reasoning, and word construction, so that different games exercise different cognitive skills rather than repeating a single mechanic.

The compendium comprises eight distinct formats: Path and Ladder, Spin and Match, Wall-Ee, Jigsaw Puzzles, Patho-Connect, Who’s My Pair?, The Jumble Box, and Find the Path. The variety of formats reflects the range of activity types built into the collection, all adapted to the vocabulary and diagnostic content of oral pathology and microbiology.

According to the authors, the models are intended to address diverse cognitive domains, spanning knowledge recall, visual identification, analysis, and application. Each format is tied to specific learning objectives, so the collection as a whole targets different levels of cognitive demand across the foundational concepts of oral pathology and microbiology.

Beyond individual cognition, the games are expected to promote teamwork, peer-assisted learning, and active participation while reinforcing foundational concepts in oral pathology and microbiology. These expectations form part of the design rationale set out by the authors rather than measured classroom outcomes.

The authors conclude that board game-based learning models represent innovative and adaptable educational resources for dental education, and they suggest that integrating such models into undergraduate curricula may potentially enhance student motivation, engagement, and conceptual understanding while creating enjoyable learning experiences. The deliberately cautious language reflects the descriptive nature of the study: the paper documents the designs and their intended educational rationale, and the abstract does not report empirical outcome data from classroom trials.

The collection is also framed in terms of global education goals, with the authors noting that the models align with Sustainable Development Goal 4, which concerns quality education. The compendium offers a documented starting point for educators interested in board game-based learning, though the authors’ own framing makes clear that the next step for this line of work is formal evaluation of how the games perform in actual undergraduate settings.

Subject of Research: A descriptive compendium of eight board game-based learning models for teaching oral pathology and microbiology to undergraduate dental students

Article Title: A compendium of board game-based learning models for oral pathology and microbiology education

Article References: R., V., T., M., CV, D., Subbarayan, S., & R., P. (2026). A compendium of board game-based learning models for oral pathology and microbiology education. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10640-w

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10640-w

Keywords: dental education, game-based learning, oral pathology, oral histology, microbiology, board games, active learning, undergraduate students, BMC Medical Education, curriculum, peer-assisted learning, quality education