Dental Education in Europe

Editorial Modern dental education has its roots in the USA where the first dental school started in Baltimore in 1840. It did not take long, however, before independent dental curricula were introduced in Europe leading to different patterns of education. During the last thirty years different activities in harmonization of European higher education have lead dental education also to face continuous changes. The European Community decided to harmonize different professional degrees by developing directives for health sector. The dental directive defining an independent dental degree based on five year curriculum was issued in 1978. The Advisory Committee for the Training of Dental Practitioners was established to advise the EC on further curricular development. Regardless of beneficial work by the Advisory Committee on development of European dental curricula its function came to an end in 2000. Also the dental directive was merged to a new one on the recognition of professional qualifications in 2005. This Directive includes the educational requirements concerning the mutual recognition of Diplomas, Certificates and other evidence of the formal qualifications of dental practitioners. The Association for Dental Education in Europe (www.adee.org) has served as the forum of discussion of models and experiences in dental education since its foundation in 1975. During its existence the Association has grown into a professional organization having more than 160 dental schools as members and running a central office in Dublin. ADEE represents the voice of dental education in Europe, the European Union and the European Higher Education Area. Over the years ADEE has also been active in pursuing for high quality in dental education. Under its patronage, the Thematic Network Project DentEd was first supported by the EU in 1997 to facilitate convergence towards higher standards in dental education and professional training. This project has been able to establish a wide network of dental schools by creating a model for peer evaluation, based on self-assessment and peer-review visits and has identified innovative models in attaining high standards in dental education throughout Europe. After the first phase of DentEd, a new project DentEdEvolves was funded by the EU during 2000-2003. This project continued the visitation programs and aimed to widen the harmonization process beyond European borders. ADEE together with DentEdEvolves network has obtained further funding from the EU for the newest project DentEd III for 2004-2007. During DentEd III it has been possible to develop a curricular model for dentistry compliant with …