Suggested guidelines for basic dental education in Europe.

With the enlargement of the European Community, a great effort was done. In order to abolish the inequalities that exists in the provision of oral health education and Oral healthcare delivery between Eastern and Western Europe. On the other hand, each day more emphasis is placed on the basic competencies and abilities gained during basic dental education due to internal and external driving forces. The differences between the systems are often very important prominent and seem to depend mainly on the national institutions or the government policy. Therefore there is a major responsibility for the profession in helping to integrate the dental practitioners in an updated approach. As a similar basic dental education will progressively been developed, the Continuing Education could become more complex. For this purpose, following a basic dental education complying with the current needs and demands, a more adapted Continuing Education program must be elaborated and promoted.