[Curriculum reform in dental medicine at the University of Ghent].
The need for dental and oral treatment in the society is constantly changing. Epidemiological studies show that in the rapidly aging population in Western Europe, caries (except for root caries) is declining but more complex periodontal treatment is needed. The number of completely edentulous patients is decreasing. Patients have a longer life expectancy but are medically and psychologically more compromised. Many more patients are at high risk for medical complications. Therefore, a more medical orientation of the dental education is needed. The basic cellular and molecular knowledge in medicine is rapidly expanding. The practical application of this expanded knowledge has been introduced in dentistry such as use of DNA probes, genetic testing, vaccines etc. The graduating dentist should be aware of the scientific progress and be able to apply this technology in his future practice. Therefore, the urgent need was felt to reform the dental education fundamentally and to give it a more medical orientation. Teaching is organised in coherent blocks of lectures covering specific parts of' a discipline and discussing the content from different angles by different lecturers. Basic information (eg. physiology, microscopy, microbiology) is provided in the same block as the clinical and therapeutic information. Preclinical laboratories prepare the student for the clinical phase of a discipline and are not any longer devoted to dental technical laboratory work. More time is given to prosthetic planning, communication with the dental technician and to analyse the biological effects of prosthetic appliances. In the final year a large number of teaching hours is devoted to general medical pathology including physiopathology, dermatology, general head and neck pathology and surgery (ENT, oncology, orthognathic surgery) as well as gerodontology including general medical, psychological and nutritional themes. Finally, clinically the student has a multidisciplinary approach in his diagnosis and treatment of patients. The final aim is train and educated oral physicians.
De Boever
J A
JA
Service de Prothèses fixée et de Parodontologie Département de Médecine Dentaire Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé Université de Gand. j.deboever@skynet.be
D001530:Belgium; D001690:Biological Science Disciplines / Q000193:education; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D003729:Dental Care; D004497:Education, Dental; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D012575:Schools, Dental; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D013672:Technology / Q000193:education