Education in and the practice of dental public health in the United kingdom and Finland.

This paper describes and compares the education in and practice of dental public health in Finland and the United Kingdom. A brief introduction describes the populations of the two countries in terms of their geography, mean per capita, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), life expectancy, recent oral epidemiological data, oral health needs and the dental workforce. This is followed by a description of education in Dental Public Health in each country at undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing levels. The practice of Dental Public Health is then outlined. In both countries it includes: leadership and management of health organisations, teaching, training, research, advising and evaluating. A discussion follows. It considers the need for the provision of Dental Public Health at a time of changing oral health need and gives examples of problems that have arisen when such advice has not been sought or has been ignored. Finally, the paper considers how education in Dental Public Health could be developed to provide more flexible training whilst ensuring that the quality of knowledge and skills of specialists is maintained or improved.