BACKGROUND: Empathy in a healthcare setting is the ability to understand patients' experiences and feelings. It is also the ability to communicate this understanding. Although empathy has been shown to play an important role in the dentist– Patient relationship and is a core capability for dentists. AIM: The aim of the present study is to know the level of empathy among dental students in private dental colleges MATERIALS AND METHODS:A cross-sectional descriptive research was done among 172 dental students (1st year,2nd year,3rd year,4th year,interns and PG’s) both undergraduate postgraduate dental students to measure empathy levels using Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-health professionals version.online questionnaire was prepared and circulated through the students of private dental college. Obtained data was tabulated and analysed on Statistical packages of social sciences version 23. Data analysis was done in Descriptive statistics and Pearson chi-square test. RESULTS: Out of 172 students majority were males(62%) and remaining were females(38%). There was not much difference found with the empathy scores of both male and female with a mean of 5.670 out of 7 in average.Empathy levels increases as students progress through dental courses.The result is statistically significant with a p value 0.010(<0.05) CONCLUSION:To sum up, based on the results of this study, it was observed that students join the dental school with a determination to administer patient centered care in an empathic manner, however there was no noticeable change in this empathy as they progressed.Further research is needed to identify factors that contribute to changes in empathy and to examine whether targeted educational programmes can help to retain,cultivate empathy among medical students for improving clinical outcomes.

Dental, Education, Empathy, Innovative technique, Jefferson Scale,Novel Questionnaire