European Core Curriculum in Cariology for Undergraduate Dental Students

Abstract

As dental caries prevalence is still high in many populations and groups of both children and adults worldwide, and as caries continues to be responsible for significant health, social and economic impacts, there is an urgent need for dental students to receive a systematic education in cariology based upon current best evidence. Although European curriculum guidelines for undergraduate students have been prepared in other dental fields over the last decade, none exist for cariology. Thus the European Organisation for Caries Research (ORCA) formed a task force to work with the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) on a European Core Curriculum in Cariology. In 2010, a workshop to develop such a curriculum was organised in Berlin, Germany, with 75 participants from 24 European and 3 North-South American countries. The Curriculum was debated by five pre-identified working groups: I The Knowledge Base; II Risk Assessment, Diagnosis and Synthesis; III Decision-making and Preventive Non-surgical Therapy; IV Decision-making and Surgical Therapy; and V Evidence-based Cariology in Clinical and Public Health Practice and then finalised jointly by the group chairs. According to this Curriculum, on graduation, a dentist must be competent at applying knowledge and understanding of the biological, medical, basic and applied clinical sciences in order to recognise caries and make decisions about its prevention and management in individuals and populations. This document, which presents several major and numerous supporting competences, does not confine itself to dental caries alone, but refers also to dental erosion/non-erosive wear and other dental hard tissue disorders.

International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) and its International Caries Classification and Management System (ICCMS) – methods for staging of the caries process and enabling dentists to manage caries

“…The initial development of ICDAS has been taken forward by dental academics working from many dental schools , and the specification of the ICCMS ™ was undertaken by representatives of 11 International Dental Schools, building on the needs and experiences of dental education at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A very useful parallel activity in recent years has been the joint work of the European Organization for Caries Research and the Association for Dental Education in Europe who partnered in first the development of a survey on education in cariology for undergraduate dental students across Europe and then, having received a mandate to do so, developed a European Core Curriculum in Cariology . This process has achieved International consensus (involving dialogues with colleagues in North and South America as well as in Europe) on the competencies needed across the five key areas that were agreed as essential in cariology education .…”

“…A very useful parallel activity in recent years has been the joint work of the European Organization for Caries Research and the Association for Dental Education in Europe who partnered in first the development of a survey on education in cariology for undergraduate dental students across Europe and then, having received a mandate to do so, developed a European Core Curriculum in Cariology . This process has achieved International consensus (involving dialogues with colleagues in North and South America as well as in Europe) on the competencies needed across the five key areas that were agreed as essential in cariology education . This process has also allowed a mapping for the caries risk assessment, diagnosis and synthesis parts on to the ICCMS ™ .…”

Investigating an errorless learning approach for developing dental operative technique skills: A pilot study

“…Learning how to safely manipulate a high-speed handpiece is a core skill in dental curricula that underpins one of the five domains of cariology education, decision-making and surgical therapy that was outlined in the European Core Curriculum in Cariology. 39 To optimise students' development of this core skill, we need a sound evidence base to inform the design of effective learning activities.…”

Shaping the future of dental education: Caries as a case‐study

“…The process was carefully constructed to build consensus 3 and took place after a Europe-wide survey of Dental Schools had validated both the need and demand. 4 The final curriculum which emerged from a comprehensive workshop held in Berlin was published 5 The "Caries risk assessment, diagnosis and synthesis" Domain of the European CCC mapped across the ICDAS continuum of caries to link lesion severity and activity to clinical decision-making. 6 This scale of the continuum of caries was based on research evidence linking the pathology, diagnosis and logical management of caries, 7,8 which was built into ICCMS™ as a System for staging of the caries process with both clinical and radiographic assessments and enabling dentists to manage the disease with caries management pathways that preserve dental tissues and promote oral health.…”

“…The process was carefully constructed to build consensus and took place after a Europe‐wide survey of Dental Schools had validated both the need and demand . The final curriculum which emerged from a comprehensive workshop held in Berlin was published in an open‐access Supplement of this Journal, along with individual papers from each of the 5 Curriculum “Domains”: The knowledge base; Risk Assessment, Diagnosis and Synthesis; Decision Making & Preventive Non‐Surgical Therapy; Decision Making & Surgical Therapy; and Evidence‐based Cariology in Clinical & Public Health Practice.…”