Preventive Dentistry and Dental Education

The ineffectiveness of curative approaches in promoting community oral health indicates the importance of implementing preventive strategies at an optimum level, which, in turn, requires the active presence of a prevention-oriented dental workforce. This book focuses on preventive orientation of the dental education system in Iran as reflected in the responses of dental school educators and dental students to a questionnaire survey. To increase the orientation of Iran's health care system towards prevention, and to cope with current concepts of prevention, corresponding changes should be made in the dental education system. The results of this study support the revision of the dental curriculum by placing more emphasis on prevention-related topics and by integrating prevention-related concepts into all disciplines. Additionally, practicing dentists and dental educators should be provided with opportunities to attend continuing education courses and to conduct seminars and congresses on various aspects of preventive dentistry at home as well as abroad.