Among the efforts aimed at strengthening the affiliation between the Hebrew University - Hadassah School of Dental Medicine and its graduates, a qualitative viewpoint study was conducted. "Objectives:" 1) to characterize the relation, attitudes and feelings of the graduates towards their school, 2) to expose the underlying sources from which these stem, and 3) to further establish and solidify the affiliation of the graduates to the school. "Methods:" 15 dental school graduates and 10 medical school graduates (comparison group) participated in an open, unstructured interview. They were divided into three groups according to different years from graduation. "Results:" Qualitative content analysis demonstrated that most of the dentists, as well as most of the physicians, expressed no justification, whatsoever, in maintaining any kind of relationship following graduation. Furthermore, they viewed the correct relationship to be of a pragmatic "business-like" nature, which ends at the time of graduation. Very few dentists expressed need to maintain affiliation of some degree with the school. "Conclusion:" The findings demonstrated that the majority of graduates fail to see their school as an identity group. Among the various possible explanations to these findings are the relatively late age at which the average student in Israel engages in studying, along with the probable individualistic nature of the professions investigated.

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