Quality assurance of dental care and appropriate supply of dentists in view of the increasing inflow of dental graduates from abroad

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the data on the medical personnel education system and license scheme and provide the basic material for an enhanced qualification system. In China, dental education reform has been underway with a view to providing an inclusive basic medical service package to the whole country by 2020. It is also estimated that the number of Korean dental medicine students in China would be fewer. And most of them desire to get a job in China after acquiring the Chinese license, suggesting little prospect of a massive inflow into Korea in the near future. In Japan, students are required to complete a clinical training program for over 1 year after receiving licenses to become an independent practitioner. But they can apply for the Korean preliminary examination without this post-graduation process. For this reason, the quality issue in license effectiveness review has been seriously discussed. It is deemed desirable to limit the Korean accreditation to Japanese graduates from the dental schools certified by the Japanese dental accreditation body.