Dental Students' and Dental School Graduates' Practical Skills: An International Survey of Perceptions of National Dental Associations in Europe.

Purpose: Dental students learn knowledge and practical skills to provide oral health care to the population. Practical skills must be maintained or continuously developed throughout a professional career. This cross-sectional survey aimed to evaluate the perception of practical skills of dental students and dental-school graduates by national dental associations (NDAs) in international comparison in the European Regional Organization of the FDI World Dental Federation (ERO-FDI) zone.

Implementation of evidence-based dentistry into practice: analysis of awareness, perceptions and attitudes of dentists in the World Dental Federation-European Regional Organization zone.

Based on evidence-based dentistry (EBD) being a relatively new concept in dentistry, the attitudes, perceptions and level of awareness of dentists regarding EBD, and perceived barriers to its implementation into daily practice, were comparatively analysed in six countries of the FDI (World Dental Federation-Federation Dentaire Internationale)-European Regional Organization (ERO) zone (France, Georgia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey). For this purpose, a questionnaire, 'The Relationship Between Dental Practitioners and Universities', was developed by the FDI-ERO Working Group and applied by National Dental Associations (NDAs). A total of 850 valid responses were received, and cumulative data, comparisons between countries and potential impact of demographic variables were analysed.