The EU manual of dental practice--a guide for dentists planning to practice abroad.

How does a dentist go about moving practice to another EU country? This article describes a new publication which aims to explain the dental practice arrangements in a number of European countries and clear up the EU red tape.

Dentistry and the National Health Service in the context of Europe.

Many British dentists consider that because of the NHS, oral healthcare provision in Europe is more comprehensive, less controlled and more remunerative than the UK, a view that is often shared by their European colleagues. In this article, the oral healthcare systems of most European countries are classified and compared, and some strengths, similarities and weaknesses are identified and discussed.

Oral health systems in Europe. Part II: The dental workforce.

OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare the practice of dentistry and the dental workforce in eighteen European countries. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Semi-structured, in-depth validation interviews were carried out with key-informants from the main national dental associations of EU and associated countries. The interviews were structured around the responses to a previously completed questionnaire, whose topics and terminology had been agreed in advance with the collaborating associations. The resulting descriptions of dental practice and the dental workforce in each country were returned for further validation and correction by the collaborating associations. Ultimate editorial control over the review of each country's oral health system rested with the academic unit from which the associations jointly commissioned the study. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: With the exception of Austria the primary training and registration of dentists is now more or less standard across Europe. However, wide international variation exists in the official recognition of dental specialists and auxiliaries. The Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland and Iceland recognise the broadest range of specialties. In contrast Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Belgium currently do not formally recognise any types of specialist practice. Fee-for-service is the dominant form of remuneration for dentists across Europe, but considerable variation exists in the level of fees, how they are decided and the proportion paid by the patient. When based upon standard questionnaires, semi-structured interviews with key informants are an effective method for capturing both the specifics of how an oral health system works, and the general similarities and differences between countries.

Oral health systems in Europe. Part I: Finance and entitlement to care.

OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare the oral health systems in 18 European countries. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Semi-structured, in-depth validation interviews were carried out with key informants from the main national dental associations of EU and associated countries. The interviews were structured around the responses to a previously completed questionnaire, the topics and terminology of which had been agreed in advance with the collaborating associations. The resulting descriptions of dental practice and the dental workforce in each country were returned for further validation and correction by the collaborating associations. Ultimate editorial control over the review of each country's oral health system rested with the authors. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Oral health care is mainly financed by government-regulated or compulsory social insurance in seven of the 18 countries examined here: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Providing universal or near-universal coverage by membership of insurance institutions, these systems provide oral health care for about 180 million people across Europe, and almost half of all EU citizens. In the Nordic countries and the UK entitlement to care is typically based upon residence or citizenship, and apart from in Norway and Iceland is provided within a tax-funded and government-organised health service. In southern Europe, Norway, Ireland and Iceland oral health care is largely financed directly by the patient, with occasional support through private insurance. Some publicly-funded and organised services do exist in these countries but generally only for specific population groups (e.g. children, unemployed), or in particular regions.

A computerised method of monitoring and assessing undergraduate clinical activity.

This article describes the development and use of an electronic data acquisition system for monitoring and assessing the clinical activity of undergraduate dental students. The advantages of such a system over a paper-based one is that it can generate reports quickly and easily, showing the variety of clinical experience gained by the undergraduates and an assessment of the level of skill displayed. It also relieves academic staff of the tedious, repetitive task of collecting and collating data by hand.

Working together in Peru--language needn't be a problem!

International, co-operative links between dental schools are an increasingly common occurrence, especially in relation to elective visits for under-graduates. However, in this feature for FDI World Norman Whitehouse and Gillian Jones from the Cardiff Dental School in Wales, UK, describe how they came to meet and assist Teresa Rios Caro in Peru, in rather different circumstances, and how language need not be a barrier when goodwill prevails.