Introduction:

The benefit of basic science courses may depend on students' perceptions of the importance of these courses in their professional life, therefore, it's necessary to determine the degree of importance that students give to this type of courses.

Materials and methods:

A questionnaire with 9 statements was presented to 54 dental and medical students. The responses were converted to a numerical scale for analysis. Using a Mann-Whitney U test, differences between students from both faculties were evaluated.

Results:

The students showed a good opinion of the importance of basic sciences in clinical practice. It was also observed that the proportion of dental students who consider that basic research is not useful for their clinical practice is higher.

Conclusion:

Students consider the basic sciences necessary for good professional performance.