EDSA Summer 2006

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As the new editor, I would like to take this opportunity tointroduce myself. My name is Catherine Kelleher and I amthe EDSA delegate, U.K and a student at Cardiff DentalSchool. Assuming this editorial role last September, follow-ing elections at the 34th EDSA Meeting in Cardiff, provedto be an exciting yet challenging task. This was in light ofthe acknowledgement, and acceptance, that keeping up toMaria Protopapaki’s high editorial standards would not beeasy. However, I was guided along the way.

On this note, I wish to thank Maria Protopapaki(Immediate past editor), Alex Creavin (President) andKimon Divaris (Immediate past president) for all their helpand support throughout. The contribution of Ruth Bowen(Graphics Department, Cardiff Dental School) is alsorecognised, whose cheerful assistance and expertise in thisfield has offered invaluable guidance along the way. Aboveall, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support ofQuintessenz and the professionalism that distinguishesthem. Without Quintessenz’s help and enthusiasm for thismagazine, this issue would not have been possible.Acknowledgements must also be made for the contributionof all the sponsors, whose financial support is more thanessential. Last but not least, acknowledgements to all thosewho have read the magazine and those who have investedtime and effort in writing an article, because your enthusi-asm and interest is what gives fuel to our motivation.

It has proven to be a very productive year for the EDSA.Get your teeth into this magazine and savour a taste ofsome of the events that have unfolded!As mentioned, the34th EDSA meeting was held in Cardiff, Wales lastSeptember. 27 delegates from 9 member countries(Croatia, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbiaand Montenagro, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and U.K)formed the quorum. It was a great success and the memo-ries can be relived by reading this issue’s article on theevent.

Since then a number of developments have come aboutand as editor I will take this opportunity to update you onthese. The following summary provides a brief overview ofsome of the happenings and activities that have come topass.

First of all, and perhaps of greatest significance, is theestablishment of the EDSA’s permanent office in TrinityCollege, Dublin. This opens the door to a great deal ofprospects for the organization with the establishment of itsnew ‘home’. Mr. Brian Murray (the CEO of the TCD DentalHospital) must be acknowledged for his contribution onthis issue, along with the efforts of the Irish delegation.This means that the EDSA, ADEE and DentEd are now host-ed in the same office. An ideal situation for the three orga-nizations to work together.

Alex Creavin (EDSA President) and Kimon Divaris(Immediate Past President) have attended several meetingswith the ADEE and DentED executive boards, both inDublin and Athens, recently. According to Kimon the

‘atmosphere’ is “very positive” and that it is apparent fromthese meetings that student involvement is not only wel-come but also needed in dental educational affairs. For thisreason the EDSA will have a slot in the official program forone workshop in the upcoming ADEE Meeting in Athens,September 2005. This will be chaired by the EDSAPresident (Alex Creavin). The proposed title is‘Undergraduates’ views of graduate education’. Anotherworkshop, organized by the EDSA honary lifetime memberNikos Mattheos, will deal with ‘Information and opportuni-ties for post –graduates studies in Europe’.

This is surely is a great step forward for the EDSA, bymaking the dental students’ opinion the voice heard in themost formal way through the production of two positionpapers that will be distributed and published.

The EDSA Project ‘Stress provoking factors in dental edu-cation’ is now completed. The complete results were pre-sented as both a poster and an oral presentation in theCardiff ADEE Meeting 2004 and can be viewed on theEDSA (the poster) and ADEE (oral presentation) websites.Two papers were prepared to be submitted in internationalpeer-reviewed journals; one has already been submitted tothe Journal of Dental Education.

Regarding the HIV-related survey, according to KimonDivaris the remarks received by students and faculty havebeen very positive on this project, besides prizes and arti-cles. This is no doubt because, apart from addressing anissue of clinical importance and academic awareness, itenters the public realm by dealing with public awarenessand social sensitivity when it comes to seropositive patientsreceiving treatment.

The project on Green Dentistry’ has also been a greatsuccess. Worth mentioning here is the creation of the web-site at www.greendentistry.com and the production of twoinformative leaflets.

Last, but far from least, was the EDSA Meeting inValencia, Spain. An unforgettable event (if it wasn’t for allthose Sangria’s!). Enjoy a snap-shot view of this fun n’fruitful event in this issue.

All in all, great strides have beenmade by the EDSA over the past whileand I am sure that the organisation willhave great prospects for its future. Aseditor and delegate, I am honoured tobe part of this organization, being inthe unique position to collate andread the articles forwarded on to meby the active members at first hand.

On this note I would like to wishyou an enjoyable read!

Catherine Kelleher, U.K EDSA Delegate & EDSA Magazine editor,Cardiff Dental School,Wales, United Kingdom

Editorial

3

Welcome to Another Issue of the EDSA Magazine!

M two EDSA 210x280 .indd 1 19.01.2006 12:14:49


PresidentAlex Creavin6 Brookfield MtMerrion Ave.BlackrockCo. DublinIreland

Vice PresidentPaloma Valero RemohiC/Botanico Cavanilles, 2646010 ValenciaSpain

General SecretaryTadeja RisMarof 248250 BreziceSlovenia

EDSA Magazine EditorCatherine Kelleher55 Pantbach Road, BirchgroveCF14 4TW Cardiff, WalesUnited Kingdom+447946418301

TreasurerKristin Helene Randulff NielsenBjerregards Gate 28A1072 OsloNorway

Web EditorMarko HorvatMocnikova 101000 LjubljanaSlovenia

Immediate Past PresidentKimon Divaris40 Dim, Rali Street15124 MarroussiAthensGreece

EDSA Magazine Co-EditorWill Rymer23 Collum End RiseGL53 O53 Lechampton, CheltenhamUnited Kingdom

Front cover photo: Tom Kersey, director: Chris Tetley

Contents EDSA Committee

4

EditorialWelcome to Another Issue 3

EDSA Events34th EDSA Meeting in Cardiff, Wales, UK 531st ADEE Congress in Cardiff, Wales, UK 836th EDSA Meeting in Athens, Hellas 22

EDSA TopicsProblem Based Learning 9Pushing up Standards 10Dental Workforce in Greece 20

EDSA PresentationsGreetings from Odessa 11

EDSA ResearchersEnamel Derivative Proteins 12

EDSA ProjectDental Informatics: Applications in Everyday Dental Practice 14

EDSA CollaborationsEDSA & IADS 18Ten Things You Need To Know About AEGEE 19

EDSA MAGAZINE, Journal of the E.C. Dental StudentsCommittee; Publisher: H. W. Haase; Editors: see “EDSACommittee“; Editorial Office: Quintessenz Verlags-GmbH,Ifenpfad 2-4, D-12107 Berlin, phone: +4930 761 80-5,www.quintessenz.de

Production Manager: T. Pricker; Subscription Manager: A. Köthe;Advertising Sales Manager: S. KwiatkowskiCopyright © 2006 by Quintessenz Verlags-GmbH. All rights reserved. Noparts of this journal may be reproduced without permission from the pub-lisher. The publisher assumes no responsibilty for unsolicited manuscripts.Articles are accepted with the understanding that they have not beenpublished previously and that they are submitted solely to EDSAMagazine.


With the months of preparation andorganisation finally drawing to aclose, came the arrival of EDSA mem-bers and observers from Croatia,Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands,Norway, Serbia and Montenegro,Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Reacquainting one with old facesand familiarising one with the new isall part of what EDSA meetings are all

about. The meeting gave all the dele-gates the opportunity to catch upwith news since the last meeting inTrinity College, Dublin.

During the 3 days of intense discus-sions, thought was given to issuessuch as contacts with other associa-tions, namely the IFISO, ESIB, AEGEE,IFMSA and ADEE. Consideration wasgiven to the EDSA VisitingProgramme, the ‘Green Dentistry’campaign, the EDSA alumni, EDSAactivities at the national level, theBologna Declaration, and the Profileof the European Dentist. Prof. Jones(Dean of Cardiff Dental School) andMark Brennan sat in for part of one ofthe meetings and got involved in anopen discussion on Kimon Divaris’sdocument entitled ‘ ExecutiveCommittee Reform Proposal’. Anexhaustive list….but a list that fuelledeveryone’s appetite for some fun!

EDSA Events

5

“Work hard,play hard!”

In Cardiff, there is onerule that students try notto break. That is: ‘workhard, play hard!’ … A rulethat was obeyed in itsentirety during the 34thEDSA meeting in Cardiff!

Top: City Hall, Cardiff.

Top right: Welcome slide.

Far left, and bottom: Down to business...intense discussions and open debates.

Left: Paper presentation.

Center: Prof. Malcolm Jones, Dean of CardiffDental School, and Mark Brennan gotinvolved in one of the discussions.


And boy, fun we certainly had!Social events were set off in style witha welcome meal in a flush restaurant,followed by a night out in Cardiff city… that went on until the early hoursof the morning! A pub crawl, a winereception in Cardiff City Hall includedjust some of the many social activitiesthe Cardiff EDSA Committee hadlined up for the EDSA delegates. Andof course there was the EDSA Euro-Vision Night … the highlight of everyEDSA Meeting!

With the farewell meal came sometears as the delegates realised thatthe meeting had drawn to a end. Butfriendships had been made, memo-ries will be cherished and overall ithad been a very productive meeting.

On this note I would like to takethis opportunity to express apprecia-

tion to Prof. Jones (Dean of CardiffDental School), Prof. Edmunds (Sub-Dean), Dr. Richard Oliver and Mr.Mark Brennan for all their support,encouragement and enthusiasm.Support and enthusiasm that has notonly enabled Cardiff Dental School tohost the EDSA Meeting, but can alsobe attributed to the Cardiff EDSACommittee grow from strength tostrength; now 6 member strong.

Catherine Kelleher, magazine editor

EDSA Events

6

Out and about in Cardiff ... with the end ofthe first meeting came the beginning of anight out in Cardiff city centre, kicking offwith a welcome meal in La Fosse.


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This year, the 34th EDSAMeeting of Cardiff coincidedwith the ADEE Congress,which also took place in theCardiff University School ofDentistry.

Both events were very well prepared bythe local organizing committees, and therecord-attendance of nearly 300, is onlyone indicator of the high quality and prestige the ADEECongress is gaining year-by-year; for this, the significantcontribution of the Cardiff Dental School’s Dean prof.Malcolm Jones, should be acknowledged.

The main topics of the congress were “Research inEducation” and “Managing change in Education” there-fore, the submitted abstracts and the keynote lectures wereorganized around these thematic cycles. The congress lec-tures may be found online athttp://www.adee.dental.tcd.ie/conferences/2004. It is alsoworth mentioning that on behalf of the Association, theEDSA immediate-past president was invited to hold a lec-ture, presenting EDSA and its activities, and particularly itscontribution to dental education affairs, in Europe. Equallyinteresting and productive were the various workshopsthat were held, such as “Practical examples of studentswith research” that was lead by Nikos Mattheos andattracted many student participants. Further, during theworks of the Congress both the current and the incoming –from January 2005 – editor-in-chief of the European Journal

of Dental Education, prof. John Scott and Dr. MichaelManogue addressed the assembly and held thorough pre-sentations of the status and the aims of the Journal.

The parallel activities and the social program also attract-ed complimentary remarks from the participants. The offi-cial opening and the Gala dinner were highlighted by thepresence and address of the Mayor of Cardiff and the FirstMinister respectively, whereas Cardiff city provided a vari-ety of sightseeing opportunities. All-in-all, the 31st ADEECongress was a high quality scientific event, that offeredthe participants many opportunities for fruitful discussions,new international acquaintances and fun parties! The stan-dards are indeed set high, for the nextevents… so, see you in Athens 5–10September for both the 36th EDSA Meetingand the 31st ADEE Congress!

Kimon DivarisImmediate Past-PresidentAthens, Greece

EDSA Events

8

31st ADEE Congress, Cardiff, Wales, UK


In the united Kingdom in recent years there hasbeen a trend for those in positions of responsibilityto enhance curricula. In Sept 2000, A-levels werealtered from the traditional two-year course to thenew Advanced subsidiary level and A-level Courseseach lasting one year. In February 2002, rumourswere aired in the Guardian newspaper that soon sci-ence and foreign languages would cease to be com-pulsory in secondary education. In September 2002,Vocational GCSE exams were offered in subjects suchas health science and leisure and tourism.

This trend hasn’t passed dentistry by, in September2001 University Wales College of Medicine initiated itsnew integrated dental curriculum with the followingaim ‘At present the new undergraduate curriculum isbeing implemented which will further enhance theimplementation of innovative and relevant methods oflearning and teaching.’ Then in October 2004, Leedsdental school launched its BchD programme of studythat has similar objectives.

Cardiff Dental Schools website gives five primaryfeatures of the scheme:

1. Early clinical contact – From the early stages of Year1;

2. Innovative teaching and learning methods whichincluding use of Computer-Assisted Learning -video-based teaching and IT tools;

3. An integrated curriculum which blends the basicdental sciences and the clinical disciplines within astructure that combines traditional learning meth-ods with aspects of problem-based learning;

4. Opportunities to teach and practise in communityclinics - District General Hospitals and satellite acad-emic units;

5. An emphasis on Interprofessional Education – jointteaching sessions are arranged with students ofDental Hygiene and Dental Therapy.

This system that allows clinical contact early in thecourse enables the students to apply a context to the

teaching that they are receiving. In my experience asone of the first students to go through this pro-gramme, it enables us to focus. When the stress ofproject work in the first two years is mounting and therelevance is difficult to imagine it lets us relax andenvisage the light at the end of the tunnel.

Some of the problems faced with the new curricu-lum are centred around the issue of problem-basedlearning. Students up until university are used tointensive didactic teaching, and they are accustomedto having deadlines set for them. It is often difficultfor the students to adjust to PBL, where the studentsare guided, but responsible for delivering seminars.

"PBL is a curriculum development and instructionalsystem that simultaneously develops both problemsolving strategies and disciplinary knowledge basesand skills by placing students in the active role ofproblem solvers confronted with an ill-structured prob-lem that mirrors real-world problems " Finkle andTorp, 1995.

It is vital that in the few years whilst adjusting to thenew curriculum students are properly consulted andthe students staff and governing bodies (GDC) shouldbe intensively involved in appraisal. It is important thatin the face of the curriculum changes, the long-termobjectives of dental education shouldn’t be forgotten.The primary benefit of improving dental educationshould be improving patient care.

The EDSA is the perfect medium for discussion ofthis type of problem. When countries such as Norwayand Sweden are implementing a new course, it is pos-sible for the students to take small titbits of valuableinformation back to their host institutions from stu-dents of other nations who have already been aroundthe block.

William RymerDental Students PresidentCardiff Dental SchoolCardiff University Wales College of Medicine

EDSA Topics

9

Problem Based Learning


EDSA Topics

10

In 1999 the Ministers of 29 countries in the EUsigned the Bologna Declaration.

In European Third Level Education, this declarationadvocates for the modularisation of programmes withmutual recognition across national boundaries whilstimplementing a European Credit Transfer andAccumulation System (ECTS). Such a move seeks topromote student exchange. It also aims to identify thestudent work load required to achieve the objectives ofa programme, preferably specified in terms of learningoutcomes and competencies to be acquired.

However, the identification of agreed common out-comes presents a particular challenge to dentistrywhere the educational and training programmes differconsiderably in the existing (prior to May 2004) andthe new member states. The ADEE believe that this isbest achieved by agreeing on an overall profile for theEuropean dentist. So in collaboration with the DentEdThematic Network, the ADEE has collaborated a set ofdomains with specific competencies, which is outlinedin the document ‘Profile and Competencies for theEuropean Dentist’.

This Document was approved by the ADEE generalassembly at the 30th ADEE meeting in Cardiff lastSeptember. Following this approval Fons Plasscherrrt(ADEE President) met with Alex Creavin (EDSAPresident) and Kimon Divaris (EDSA’s Immediate-pastpresident) in Dublin last December. As the documentwas approved in Cardiff (2004) this effectively givesthe EDSA no role in its drafting. However, there is anEDSA working group reviewing this document consist-ing of Thanos Noutis, Paloma Valero Remohi and AlexCreavin. Their recommendations will be included inthe final report.

So far, I have attended three EDSA meetings and ithas been a real eye opener for me as to how dentaltraining and teaching is approached in different coun-tries and how the curricula differ. In Cardiff great

efforts in recent years have been made to further har-monize and improve the quality of the dental school’scurriculum. Indeed, similar changes have been madein many dental schools so as to facilitate convergencetowards higher standards in dental education and pro-fessional training. Like Cardiff Dental School, eachEuropean dental school and each country has differentapproaches to education and training influenced bystructures, cultures and, of course, resources. Yet thereis one common objective shared by all. That is the uni-versal aspiration to achieve the highest possible stan-dards in educational outcomes and appropriate clinicalcompetences. In my opinion, with this objectiveshared by each dental school, a framework of a DentalProgramme which will provide young Europeans withtertiary educational structures that have a genuineEuropean, rather than a purely national background, istruly workable.

This document will serve as the model for theEuropean Dental Graduate.

The overall objective is to tune the curricula in termsof structures, programmes and actual teaching, withthe ultimate aim of convergence of dental curriculaand making them more comparable. As a DentEd par-ticipant, EDSA members have the opportunity to con-tribute to the process of creating a profile for an EUdentist based on competences in the anticipation ofthe implementation of the Bologna Declaration by theEDSA working group offering feedback on theapproved document. The EDSA may be playing a limit-ed role, but it is a role that is valued. This feedback willbe offered by the EDSA working group at theEDSA/ADEE meeting in Athens next September.

Catherine KelleherU.K EDSA Delegate & EDSA Magazine editor,Cardiff Dental School,Wales, United Kingdom

Pushing Up Standards

Convergence towards Higher Standards inDental Education and Professional Training –The Role of the EDSA


EDSA Presentations

11

My name's Boris Averbukh. I'm a 3rdyear dental student of the OdessaState Medical University (OSMU),Ukraine.

It's my first article to this magazine,so I'd like to let you know somethings about my school, city and aca-demic aims.

My school was founded in 1900 asa faculty of medicine of NovorossiyskUniversity and owns a very good his-tory. That time it was one of the mostprominent medical institutes of all onthe former Russia territory(whichincluded Ukraine that time).

Nowadays, it's named after a greatrussian scientist Pirogov, whose con-tribution into the medical field is diffi-cult to overestimate. As for now, theuniversity is solely medical. Thisincludes medicine, dentistry andpharmaceutics.

Our dentistry faculty includes about400 students. "Doctor of Dentistry",the degree awarded upon gradua-tion,is a five-year course followed by 1to 3 years of internship at the the clin-ic depending on a specialty. Duringthis time you work under the supervi-sion of a qualified dentist. The firsttwo years of the course are devoted tostudying different pre-clinical subjectsand the basic medical sciences.

Usually the sixth semester is thebeginning of the clinical studies. Andthis goes on till graduation. That wasjust a couple of words about our edu-cation system for dentists.

The city of Odessa itself is a topic ofa long, long talk. It's beautiful andinteresting.

I'm sure you'd love it here yourself:so many parks, squares theaters. Butbesides this, there's a whole industryof night life, so if you like to live atnight-undoubtedly this a place foryou. But it's better in summer, ofcourse, because you'll also be able toenjoy the beaches of the city, and thewonderful landscapes and architec-ture. I, as many other people, wouldsay that “Odessa is a country in acountry”. Odessa must be the “mostinternational” city of Ukraine. Somany different people. I myself wouldcall it a “Ukrainian New York” ... socontrast ... so bright ... so different.You'll see it. You'll like it.

As a student, I'd love to build abridge to communicate, cooperateand simply enjoy our student timetogether. I'd be interested in all of theexchange programs that would makemy professionalism progress. I'd loveto take part in making our world livewithout barriers and I'm sure closecommunication between us is a firststep.

So let us live without borders andformalities enhancing our knowledgeand professionalism.

Always opened to communication,Boris Averbukh,3rd year dental studentOSMU, [email protected] +380675152099 (mobile)

Greetings from Odessa to all dental students of Europe!

Odessa university – main building

The opera theater in Odessa

One of the city parks


IntroductionThe aim of our project was to investi-gate the current development ofenamel matrix protein in the treat-ment of intrabony defects and to useanimation as a potential educationtool in dentistry.

Enamel matrix derivatives (EMD)are proteins mainly composed ofamelogenins, secreted by theHertzwig’s epithelial root sheath dur-ing tooth development. Recent stud-ies have found that these proteins arecapable of inducing acellular cemen-tum formation. Emdogain® is anenamel matrix protein derivativeobtained from developing porcine. Itis used as an adjunct to periodontalsurgery for topical application ontoexposed root surfaces.

ObjectiveTo research, using the internet andperiodontal journals, the efficacy ofEMD in comparison with open flapdebridement, GTR, and various bonegraft procedures in the treatment ofintrabony defects.

MethodologyOur search via Pubmed led us tolocate several recent journals on EMD.We also found a recent systemicreview on EMD for periodontal tissueregeneration in furcation defects.

During our search on the internetfor information regarding enamelmatrix derivatives, we found a com-mercial website by Institute StaumannAG (www.straumann.com). This web-

site provides information on emdo-gain and its uses in dentistry. As thewebsite has good pictures on how touse emdogain, we decided to try andreuse these pictures to develop ananimation clip which was to beshown to our dental student col-leagues during our periodontologyproject presentation.

Emdogain is indicated for 1-, 2- and3-wall intrabony defects, recession

defects and Class II mandibular furca-tion defects with minimal interproxi-mal bone loss. We decided to reusethe pictures on treatment of furcationdefects.

We used Adobe Photoshop 5.0 lim-ited edition to edit the pictures to get95 separate picture clips. The pictureswere then placed onto a storyboardusing Adobe Premiere 6.0. The seriesof timeline was set and exported tobe converted into an avi video format.The result was a short, one-minuteanimation clip.

DiscussionSeveral techniques have been devel-oped to regenerate periodontal tis-sues. They include guided tissueregeneration, bone grafting andEMD.

EDSA Researchers

12

Enamel Matrix Derivative Proteins:

Treatment For Periodontal Tissue RegenerationIn Intrabony Defects Compared To OtherTreatment Modalities

Breaking up of the “Hertwig’s EpithelialRoot Sheath”

Root sheath cells (blue)secrete enamel matrixproteins. The proteinmatrix forms on the sur-face of the mineralizingdentine.Cementoblasts(red) thenstart producing cemen-tum(light blue) whichanchors collagen fibres.


Enamel matrix derivatives (EMD)are proteins mainly composed ofamelogenins, secreted by theHertzwig’s epithelial root sheath dur-ing tooth development. Recent stud-ies have found that these proteins arecapable of inducing acellular cemen-

tum formation. Emdogain®, a com-mercial product by Straumann AG(Switzerland), is an enamel matrixprotein derivative obtained fromdeveloping porcine. It is used as anadjunct to periodontal surgery fortopical application onto exposed rootsurfaces.

The recent systemic review foundthat Emdogain is able to significantlyimprove periodontal attachment losslevels (1.3mm) and periodontal pock-et destruction reduction (1mm) whencompared to flap surgery. Howeverthese results may not have a greatclinical impact, since it has not beenshown that more periodontally com-promised teeth could be saved. Therewas no evidence of clinically impor-tant differences between GTR andEmdogain.

Animation has the potential to beused as an education tool in dentistry.However, we found that it was timeconsuming to produce this one-minute animation. It was difficult atfirst to familiarised with the two soft-ware programmes and trying to syn-

chronise the pictures to get it intoflow.

Catherine Kelleher Nurazreena Wan HassanCardiff Dental School, Wales, U.K

Reference1. Esposito M, Coulthard P,

Worthington HV. Enamel matrixderivative (Emdogain®) for peri-odontal tissue regeneration in intra-bony defects. The CochraneDatabase of Systematic Reviews2003, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD003875.DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003875.

2. http://www.dentalinsurance.co.uk/ccrd/emdogain.htm

EDSA Researchers

13

Aknowledgements to Mr. Sweet, Clinical Periodontologist ofCardiff Dental School, for his help with the project, use of thehistologic slides displayed in the article and use for this magazine.

Bibliography• Caton, J. & Greenstein,G.G.(1993) Factors related to

periodontal regeneration.Periodontology 2000 1, 9-15• Cortellini, P., Pini Prato, G. & Tonetti M. (1993)

Periodontal regeneration of human infrabony defects.1. Clinical measures. Journal of Periodontology 67, 254-260.

• Donos, N., Sculean, A., Glavind, L. Reich, E. & Karring,T. (2003) Wound Healing of degree III furcationinvolvements folloing guided tissue regenerationand/or Emdogain® A histologic study Journal ofClinical Periodontology 30,1061-1068.

• Hammarstrom, L., (1997) Enamel matrix, cementumdevelopment and regeneration. Journal of ClinicalPeriodontology 24, 658-668.

• Hammarstrom, L., Heijl, L. & Gestrelius, S. (1997)Periodontal regeneration in a buccal dehiscence modelin monkeys after applicaion of enamel matrix proteins.Journal of Clinical Periodntology 24 669-667.

• Lindhe J., Pontoriero,R., Berglundh T. & Araujo, M.(1995). The effect of flap management and biore-sorbable occlsal devices in GTR treatment of degree IIIfurcation defects. An experimental study in dogs.Journal of Clinical Periodontology 50, 333-344.

• Sculean, A. Donos, N., Blaes, A., Lauermann, M.Reich,E.& Brecx, M. (1999a) Comparison of enamel matrixproteins and bioresorable membranes in te treatmentof intrabony periodontal defects. A split mouth study.Journal of Periodontology 70. 255-262.

Application

One week

Two weeks

The collonization of cementum-forming cellsoccurs due to the suitable surface Emdogaincreates. it can be seen that by 2 weeks afterapplication, 75% of the dentin surface iscovered with cementum forming cells. fol-lowing cementum formation, the PDL andalveolar bone are then established.


Introduction The Informatics infiltrates in theSciences of Health with fast rhythm,altering traditional practices andoffering new ways of organization,research, diagnosis and treatment.The Medical Informatics exploits thepossibility of computers digitalizedata, which with big precision andspeed they can store, transmit, assem-ble and combine applying concretedirectives. This poster is a short litera-ture review about dental informatics.Emphasis is given to the most fre-quent applications of informatics inevery- day dental practice, like theelectronic files of patients, the digitalradiography and technologyCAD/CAM, but also it is reportedsome applications that still has notenjoyed wide acceptance from thedental world, what however it is likelythey are used in the future.

Dental InformaticsDental informatics is a relatively newsector of Medical Informatics thatcombines the technology of comput-ers and the science of Informationtechnology with the dental research,education, organization and practice.It provides methods and systems thatcontribute in the more effective man-agement of knowledge and informa-tion in order that on one side is facili-tated the research and on other sidesolves daily practical problems in thespace of health of mouth. The DentalInformatics is developed very fast thelast years and develops in separatescience with special researchers, con-crete bibliography and educationalprograms.

Applications The Dental Informatics is applied inresearch 38, in education 1,6,17,33,40

(academic and continuous, via life),but also in the daily clinic practice 41.In the last sector, there are a lot ofapplications to be demonstrated,which they will be analyzed by eachstage of the daily clinic practice of adentist.

Future Prospects The technology offers already a lot ofsolutions in all the sectors ofDentistry, while the inquiring effort iscontinued.

Certain obstacles, and mainly thecost of essential equipment and thedifficulty of familiarization of certaindentists with the technology, is fore-casted progressively to be exceededwith the fall of prices because of thecompetition and with the better brief-ing - education of dentists. A basicstep to this direction is the import ofcourse of Dental Informatics in theundergraduate and postgraduate pro-grams of Dental Faculties.

Many are the inquiring efforts ofDental Informatics that or have stillnot been applied or are not used inwide scale. As examples could bereported the evolved versions or newapplications of electronic record keep-ing, digital radiography and restora-tions with CAD/CAM, the basic ele-ments of which will be developedbelow.

Electronic management of dentaloffice – files of patients The electronic file 8,9,42 of a patientcan contain his medical and dentalhistory, radiographs, photographs,the treatment planning, referentials,economic dealings, insurance claimsand a lot of other. With these elec-tronic recording of all the elements is

avoided the concentration of big vol-ume of papers and graphic, thereforeit is economized space but also time,after moreover the data are filed andrecovered fast. Thus the personnel ofthe dental clinic allocates more timefor the communication with thepatients and for the therapeutic care,so that the quality of the providedservices is improved. 10

• Chairside restorative procedures canbe routinely photographed andimages sent out to insurance com-panies as documentary support.

• Recording and management of clini-cal data (charting periodontal dis-ease and caries, recording of alter-ations and restorations 45)

• Systems video depiction/Imagingtechnology (intraoral digital cam-eras 4,44, use of pre and post-treat-ment simulation – “aesthetic" pro-cessing of digital photograph- cos-metic dentistry imaging 15).

• A complex treatment plan can beexplained and presented to thepatient in large TV screen, andimmediately printed.

Future prospects in electronic man-agement of dental clinic 1,3,8,9,45:• Digital signatures, for example for

consent in the treatment planningor for debits in credit cards.

• Electronic communication-tele-dentistry. The practitioner is nolonger isolated in the office but isnow able to be in constant world-wide communication. All the docu-ments that are exchanged withactuarial institutions, special den-tists or suppliers of products can bechanged in electronic form. Thecommunication between patientand dentist can also become viacomputer. The patients can visit theelectronic address of their doctor in

EDSA Project

14

Dental Informatics: Applications In Everyday Dental Practice


order to check their appointmentsor their accounts

• Portable card-file. It will contain alltheir medical and dental back-ground, as well as the medicinesthat they likely receive

• Systems of recognition of voice.With the help of such system thedoctor dictates the clinical discover-ies and the computer digitalizes thevoice and records the data in thefile of patient. Thus is limited theneed for assistant, is economizedtime and observed the rules of anti-sepsis.

• Oral cancer screening. A non-inva-sive method for detection of pre-cancerous and cancerous orallesions uses computer-assistedanalysis of the oral brush biopsyand is termed OralCDx.

• Caries detection. For example,DIFOTITM uses light to transillumi-nate each tooth and to instantly cre-ate digital images of the tooth on acomputer monitor. DIAGNODENT uses laser fluores-cence for detection and quantifica-tion of mineral loss from dentalcaries. Tooth structure will fluorescewhen irradiated by a laser light of aspecific wavelength. The presenceof dental caries alters the fluores-cence of the tooth structure. Thesefluorescence changes are measuredby this instrument and are used asan indicator of the extent of caries.This is still experimental but showspromise. Quantitative Light-InducedFluorescence (QLF) appears betterthan the last. Uses a computer tostore all information includingprobe location and placement.

• Orthodontic diagnosis. Dense sur-face models can be used to analyze3D facial morphology by establish-ing a correspondence of thousandsof points across every member of aset of 3D face images. The modelsprovide dramatic visualizations of3D face shape variation with poten-tial for training clinical geneticiststo recognize the key components ofparticular syndromes.

• Techniques for impression taking(utilizing video scanning of the oralcavity)

• Analysis of movements of downjawbone 27,29,31 (analysis of occlu-sion 28, electromyography 30, elec-tronic pantographs 35). A new devel-opment in the diagnostic field is thevirtual articulator or the analysis ofdysfunctions and the dysmorpholo-gy of dental occlusion.46

• Expert system to diagnosis peri-odontal disease and loss of accre-tion.19 The goal of this system is toaid the dentist in the decision makeprocess during the patient´s atten-dance, supplying the most correctdiagnosis in relation to the types ofperiodontal diseases. In agreementwith the presented symptoms thedentist can obtain, using the sys-tem, the diagnosis, and the appro-priate treatment for each case. Forexample, SISPER was developed intwo modules: (i) the database,developed in Access, that containsthe patient’s information, and infor-mation and historical of the accom-plished consultations; (ii) theexpert system based on fuzzy rules,using FuzzyCLIPS shell, that bringsaccurate results to the dentist.Toolbook makes the user interface,allowing a friendly communicationwith the user. 50

• Radiographic imaging, includingCT, digital and digital subtractionradiography. The essential for digi-tal radiography 11,14 equipmentincludes a source of radiation X, asensor 46 and a computer. The com-puter digitalizes the electronic sig-nals that it accepts from the sensor,which it can process and store.There are three methods of recep-tion and recording of digital radiog-raphy: the direct digital depiction(systems CCD – charged coupleddesign – and CMOS), the indirectdigital depiction (where a existingconventional radiography isscanned and digitalized) and thelight- activated depiction withunions of phosphor-psp.

The digital radiography presentsimportant advantages 14,18,21,22,47

against the conventional techniques,that render it particularly useful in thedaily dental practice: • Helps in the education and the

briefing of patient, improving thushis collaboration with dentist.

• Economizes precious time, as theradiography is presented immedi-ately in the screen of computer anddoes not need to wait for the devel-opment and its fixing. This rendersit precious in extraordinary inci-dents and treatments, as endodon-tics, which require receptions invarious stages, thing particularlytime-consuming and tedious forpatient.

• Does not need the chemical liquidsof development and fixing, as wellas the dark room that is essentialfor the conventional radiographictiles.

• Limits considerably the dose ofradiation in which are exposed thepatients and the dentists.

• Can sustain processing so that itbecomes diagnostic moreexploitable. Concretely, it is possi-ble to modify the brightness, theopposition of colors, the orientationor the size of the picture. Each pixelof the digital picture can take anyprice of gray from 0 until 255.Changing the opposition betweenwhite-black can reveal alterations,fractures or caries damage "incon-spicuous" in the initial radiographs.Proportionally with the software 26

that accompanies each digital radi-ographic instrument, there aremore or less possibilities of treat-ment.

• Can be sent immediately with e-mail in some special dentist (max-illofacial surgeon, orthodontist,endodontist ) so that is asked hisopinion with regard to a specificdiagnostic problem.

EDSA Project

15


• Is stored and filed easily and fast.The time does not influence itsquality and thus is rendered pre-cious for future use and comparisonwith next receptions.

• Important element for the possibili-ty of comparison between radi-ographs by different time momentsis also that the digital x-rays havecertain regularly elements (samesensor, checked dose of radiation),therefore in combination with amethod of reception as paralleltechnical or technical of bitewingcan ensure really comparable radi-ographs, that will constitute usefuldiagnostic tool. A type of digitalradiography that allows the sureestimate of loss or the regenerationof bone (so that the result of theperiodontic or endodontic treat-ment or the progress in the size oftumor is checked) is abstractive-comparative digital X-rays. 2,20,24,25,50

In this type, two radiographs thathave been received in differentmoments of time are compared andall structures, which do not change,are removed leaving the regions ofchange to appear on a neutralbackground.

The disadvantages 49 of digital radi-ography are related with its cost andthe embarrassment that feels certaindentists with the use of computer. Itis however problems that are exceed-ed with the fast damping (becausethe saving of time and the not con-sumption of tiles and humid fordevelopment ) and with the educa-tion – familiarization of dentists andpersonnel of the dental clinic.5

Future prospects in digital radiogra-phy 1,11,45,50: • radios radiographic sensors • 3-D pictures-radiographs • digital panoramic systems • improved software • transport of radiographs between

dentists and actuarial institutions

Systems of assistance of diagnosisand treatment planning 3,13,45,48

(decision support systems – DSS,expert systems, neural networks).An interactive information systemdesigned to help workers at all levelsof the organization (below the execu-tive level) to make decisions. DSS pro-vides users with ongoing informationabout the process to facilitate makingmore timely and accurate decisions. Aclinical DSS gives physicians struc-tured (rules-based) information ondiagnoses and treatments thatenables them to make better deci-sions. So DSS: • is not designed to automate a

process. • taps into database resources to

retrieve data needed to assist usersin making decisions and involvesthe analysis of many units of Data.speeds access and simplifies dataanalysis, queries, etc. within a data-base management system.

• allows the retrieval and analysis ofdata in more sophisticated andcomplex ways.

• Prediction of orthodontic treatment• Controlled by a computer issuing

local anesthetic 16

• Partial denture design• CAD/CAM

CAD/CAM Technology (ComputerAssisted Design and ComputerAssisted Manufacturing) is applied inthe dentistry for the designing andmanufacture of additive restorationswith the help of a computer. 12 Thereare various systems 39,43 that arebased on the particular technology,as : Sopha (Duret) 7, Celay, Procera,Titan, Cerec, CICERO 34, DentiCAD.The process that is followed is simpleand short, while its results are partic-ularly impressively. The plaster mutila-tion of prepared tooth or the toothitself – depending on the system – isscanned optically so that its elementsare transported in the computer. Thenis presented in the screen of comput-er the picture of mutilation and thedentist or a dental technician, with

the help of a special software, drawsthe skeleton of the restoration withprecision of micrometer. The marginalapplication and the thickness of skele-ton are checked so much by the pro-gram as by its operator. Then the pic-ture with additional elements they aredispatched with e-mail in a centralcomputer (that it can be also found inother country or other continent),who shapes a prefabricated itemceramic, alloy or synthetic materialbased on the precise specificationswhich have been given. Many few–especially in inquiring centers - arethe cases in which the same comput-er, that receives the initial picture,manufactures also the restoration.The restoration that are created withtechnology CAD/CAM have big resis-tance and preciseness. 23 With theirutilization is eliminated the need ofcreation of wax effigies and in certaincases even the need of impression. 32,36

This is very important if someonethinks the time that is consumed inthe particular laboratorial and clinicalstages, as well as the errors that veryoften happen in them because of thematerials or the techniques that areused. 37 Perhaps the only disadvan-tage of the systems CAD/CAM aretheir cost.

With the CEREC 2 CAD/CAM sys-tem, after the preparation of thetooth, the dentist takes an optical"impression" using a special camera.The system relies on a sophisticatedcamera that takes a snapshot photoinside your mouth and creates a virtu-al tooth on the computer so thatnever have a mouth full of rubber.

Then, the computer-controlledmilling machine will create a filling orcrown out of a tooth-colored porce-lain block in a matter of minutes .Thenew tooth is then milled immediatelythen and there from a dental bio-ceramic produced especially forCEREC® reconstructions. Unlike tradi-tional porcelain or gold or plastic, itexpands and contracts with your liv-ing tooth structure. This means thathot drinks or ice-cream don ’t create

EDSA Project

16


temperature shocks for tooth like traditional materials such as sil-ver or plastic.

With this system, the tooth will usually be reconstructed in justone single visit, with no impression required.It also looks likepatient’s tooth – something many patients find important today.

The Advantages of CEREC • The entire process takes little more than an hour; no return vis-

its. • The metal- free ceramic material is the closest to tooth enamel;

it is biocompatible, high-grade, anti-abrasive and plaque-resis-tant.

• There is no need for messy impressions. • There is no need for a temporary crown. • It is conservative; the dentist is able to save more of the healthy

tooth. • It is extremely precise. • The cost is the same as a crown.

Future prospects in restorations with CAD/CAM 1,34,39,45,51: • manufacture bigger and more precise restorations • simultaneous scan of more mutilations • manufacture and aesthetic overlay (color, transparency) of the

restoration by computer • wider utilisation of technology CAD/CAM and smaller cost. • Programmed and automated notification of the patient by e-

mail.

Conclusions Most from the previous reported applications of the informaticsare still not applied in the daily dental practice. However, the spe-cial scientists work in order that the concretisation of their inquir-ing efforts becomes possible in the direct future.

From those which were reported it is obvious that the applica-tions of Dental Informatics constitute efficient solutions for theclinical dentist, as they lend speed, facility and quality in his work.Up to now experience has shown that the harmonious combina-tion of technology and human factor improves the conditions ofwork, but also the level of provided services.

The Informatics undeniably has offered many in the Dentistryand it can offer still more. In the dental world lies whether he willbe receptive in the new technological developments and howmuch he will exploit the many possibilities that are provided forhim so that the profession and his science are upgraded.

The bibliography is available for everyone who ask it.The photographs at the sections of radiographic imaging, digital radi-ography and imaging technology-cosmetic dentistry are taken byBosna Petroula in the dental clinic of Mrs. Iatridou Barbara (Trophysoftware).

Bosna Petroula, Bosna SimeoniaAristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

EDSA Project

17

Sweets That Make Dentists Smile

Join the group of preventive-minded dentists – tip yourpatient to enjoy Toothfriendlysweets!

It is a recognized fact that frequentconsumption of sugar, particularly between meals,increases the risk of dental caries. Although most con-sumers have some knowledge about the relationshipbetween sugar intake and dental caries, the consump-tion of sugary sweets remains the norm. As dentists,our ungrateful task is to advise our patients againstthe luring risks of sugar. But, instead of banning allsweets as bad, a smart dentist will use a positiveapproach by recommending what sweets may beeaten.

The idea of supporting Toothfriendly confectionerydates back from 1983, when a committee of the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO), decided to recommend-ed the consumption of non-cariogenic confectionery.The “Toothfriendly Sweets” concept originates back toSwitzerland, where the idea of introducing the HappyTooth symbol of quality was developed. The HappyTooth is a registered trademark, which may belicensed by sweets that have passed a standardised pHtelemetry test run by independent universities. Thelogo is easy to recognize and communicates a clearmessage: the product is guaranteed to be safe toteeth. Today, toothfriendly sweets with the HappyTooth logo are sold in over 45 countries.

The logo is licensed to the confectionery industry byToothfriendly International, a non-profit venture that isgoverned by the dental profession. The mission ofToothfriendly International is to advance dentalhealth, particularly in children and adolescents with ahigh risk of caries. All of the licensing fees from theHappy Tooth logo are directed at dental health educa-tion campaigns. The latest development of the charita-ble association is a SMILE caries prevention programthat is targeted at children from underprivileged fami-lies. The first program is running in Turkey.

As a dentist, you can support the mission ofToothfriendly International by recommending yourpatients to prefer Toothfriendly sweets. TheAssociation also provides dentists with educativematerial and give-aways that you can pass on to yoursmall patients. You can inquire toothfriendly productsamples and promotional items at: [email protected]

More information about the Association: www.toothfriendly.org


Probably the best place to start describing the EuropeanVisiting Programme (EVP) is by saying how it first began.Well, the EVP has existed for many years now but not inany definite form. Former EDSA members have taken partin small exchanges or visits with other dental schools with-in Europe. It wasn’t until the last EDSA meeting in Valenciathat it was decided upon that Ana Branco from Spain andI, Christine Smith from Wales would take on setting up andestablishing the EVP.

Ana and I have kept in contact since the meeting viaemail. We have both discussed EVP ideas and conceptswith our Deans of Dentistry, both of whom were eager fortheir schools to participate in the programme. We took intoaccount their praises and criticisms of the programme. Anaand I have deliberated on such issues as: how long the visitshould last, what the visit should involve, who should beallowed to take part, funding etc.

The project is still in its early days and will need to bediscussed further at the next EDSA meeting in Athens, Sept2005. The main objectives of the programme so farinclude:

• To visit other dental schools around Europe• To observe and appreciate other methods of practicing

and teaching dentistry• To see how these methods compare with or differ from

the methods taught in the participants school• To visit a city where we may wish to spend more time in

e.g. on Erasmus• To learn about other cultures and languages• To establish links with other dental schools in Europe• To make new friendships!However, this is just the bones of the project! Hopefully atthe next meeting we can use the brain-storming sessions tocome up with some new ideas for the EVP and finalisesome details. And with any luck we may find some EDSAmembers who wish to take part in the EVP this comingyear!

Christine Smith,EDSA member & EVP Co-ordinator,Cardiff Dental School, Wales, United Kingdom.

European DentalStudents AssociationIntegrated Dental Holdings (IDH) was delighted to spon-sor the recent European Dental Students Association(EDSA) meeting in Cardiff.

The EDSA represents dental students throughoutEurope who value the opportunity to discuss the differ-ences within European dental practices.

IDH representative Andy Fenn welcomed the students,encouraging them to seek further clinical experience andcareer development in the UK. Formed by third genera-

tion dentist David Hudaly in 1996, IDH is the largest den-tal care provider in the UK with over 850,000 patients.IDH is able to offer dental graduates from all over Europethe opportunity to advance their careers in dentistry overa broad spectrum of professional activity, and at the sametime refine their language skills in one of 125 practiceslocated throughout the UK.

IDH also provides an excellent support network thatenables dental students to enjoy a new cultural experi-ence while they are working in the UK.

For further information on the career opportunitiesIDH can offer, call Anthony Grindrod, of the DentalRecruitment Team, on 01204 799751/753/784.

EDSA Collaborations

18

European Visiting Programme

THE EUROPEANJOURNAL OF

V O L U M E 0 1 N U M B E R 0 1

M A R C H 2 0 0 6

DENTISTRY

Join the exciting world of Esthetic Dentistry!

Esthetic dentistry has become the most sought-after area of dentistrytoday, but what is esthetic dentistry? Is it really what it appears to be orwhat the media tell us?

Clinicians must ask themselves certain questions. What do my patientswant? What are my skills? Can I solve the problem on my own or do Ineed a team to be successful? What psychological and economical fac-tors must be considered? The answers to these questions play animportant role in daily decision making.

The European Journal of Esthetic Dentistry addresses multidisciplinarytopics, both clinical and technical, to help clinicians develop clinicalesthetic treatment skills, network with colleagues, and build successfulesthetic dental practices to meet their patients’ increasing demands.


EDSA Collaborations

19

1. AEGEE stands for “Association desEtats Genereaux des Etudiants del’Europe” – European StudentsForum.

2. AEGEE got its name from one ofthe birthplaces of democracy, theAegean Sea, and the first parliamentestablished at the dawn of the FrenchRevolution, Les Etats Generaux.

3. AEGEE is one of the largest inter-disciplinary students’ associations inEurope. It is represented in 261 uni-versity cities in 40 European countriesand has around 17000 members. It isa voluntary, non-profit secular organi-zation whose work is not linked toany political party.

4. AEGEE promotes the idea of aunified Europe, trying to focus onfour main fields: Higher Education,Cultural Exchange, Peace and Stabilityand Active Citizenship.

5. AEGEE is a European associationwith no national level in its structure.It relies on its local branches, called“antennae”. This structure tries toerase the existence of mental if notphysical borders between studentscoming from all over Europe.

6. The organization is coordinatedby the European Board of Directors,stated in Brussels, known as “ComiteDirecteur” (CD). Nine (9) studentsfrom different European countriesform it.

7. The CD is chosen by vote twice ayear, during “Agora”. This is themoment when more than 1000AEGEE members evaluate the pastactivity and decide on the future ofthe organization.

8. AEGEE uses the Working Groupsas a thematic support in differentfields like: Higher Education, East-West relations, Culture, InternationalPolitics and many others.

9. AEGEE enjoys the support of theEuropean Commission. It has a con-sultative status at the Council ofEurope and the UN. AEGEE is a mem-ber of the European Youth Forum andenjoys operational status withUNESCO.

10. AEGEE members are motivatedyoung people, who work for whatthey believe, getting in return person-al satisfaction and the hope that theyhave influenced the course of history. (From “Key to Europe”, the officialAEGEE Magazine)

The most successful AEGEE project isthe Summer University. 2003 was theyear when this project celebrated its15th anniversary. It started in 1988when it was held in 11 universitycities. Nowadays, 15 years later, morethan 90 Summer Universities takeplace each summer.

Why is this project such a big suc-cess? The recipe is very simple: take atleast 30 students from all overEurope, put them in the same hostelfor two weeks, mix them so that theyforget their own language and startspeaking a new one…the language of“having fun and learning more abouteach other”. Oh, don’t forget to addsome culture, legends, local customs,parties, traditional food and the finaltouch, a dash of AEGEE spirit.If you want to know more, pay a visitto the website www.aegee.org

Cristina SoptereanEDSA delegateFormer president of AEGEE Tirgu-Mures, [email protected]

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Another interesting andrather discouraging findingof this survey is that in theprefecture of Athens thereare only 593 citizens perdentist when at the sametime, in other rural andsemi-urban areas of Greecethere is a great lack of den-tal personnel.

This hydrocephalic distri-bution of the dental work-force around the country(presented in diagram I)causes an unequal effect onpopulations of urban andrural areas of Greece,where the oral health sta-tus is much lower. (2)

The main reasons for thisanomaly of distribution arethe following :

a) The criteria for choos-ing the place for establish-ing dental profession have to do mostly with the socioe-conomic level of the local population. In other words,young dentists actually prefer to have citizens of highsocioeconomic status as a target group.

b) The distribution of dental professionals around thecountry follows the general pattern of developmentaround the state, which is being characterized by greatdisharmony.

c) Also, there is an obvious lack of state policies formotivating new dentists to moving to other areas thanthe major cities, where the unemployment rate for den-tists is rather high.

Secondary, there is a lackof long term control policyas far as the number of den-tists working in Greece isconcerned.

a) There is a general trendof increase of dental person-nel in Greece. The growingnumber of dentists led to arise of the unemploymentand underemployment rateespecially among young den-tists. The main reason seemsto be the lack of qualityassessment mechanisms fordiplomas of doubtful qualityacquired in non EU-universi-ties by Greek students whoestablish their dental profes-sion back in Greece.

b) Moreover there is agreat number of dental stu-dents in Greece, due to thefact that legal framework

proved to be inadequate in order to control the Greekstudent transcriptions from foreign, non-EU Universitiesto Greek dental faculties 1 in the previous years.

From a European perspective, it is rather interesting tomention that according to the European Manual ofDental Practice, Greece is the country with the lowest cit-izens: dentist ratio. As diagram 2 indicates, in Italy forexample, there is one dentist for 1,154 citizens, in UK onedentist for 2,097 citizens when at the same time inGreece the citizens: dentist ratio is 908:1.3 In conclusion,Greece remains by far the country with the lowest citi-zens per dentist ratio in the EU.

EDSA Topics

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Dental Workforce In Greece: A View To the Future…Nowadays in Greece there are 52 dental associations in local level in which14,000 dentists are registered. According to the findings of the most recent sur-vey carried out by the Attica Dental Association (1998), 41,1% of the dentists inGreece actually live and work in the area of Athens (diagram 1).


All the related organizations suchas the Ministry of Health care, thelocal dental councils as well as theNational dental council should makea coordinated effort in order toensure the effectiveness of thenational care system as far as dentalcare is concerned and the reductionof the unemployment rate for den-tists. An example of such coordinat-ed action is running an informationcampaign so that young dentistscan be aware of the situationaround the country and make theirchoice of place for establishing theirprofession on a more solid basis.

Also, the government shouldintroduce new policies in order to

motivate young dentists to chooseto work in less attractive areas suchas islands and other less advancedcommunities. There are ways ofencouraging this kind of choice, like:

1. Providing loans of low interestrate and long term quittance, foryoung dentists.

2. tax remission policies 3. Developing adequate insurance

covering of the target populationsso that people can actually use thehealth service.

It is rather important to mentionthat all these policies mentionedabove should be a part of a generalmultidisciplinary strategy for ruraland peripheral development.

Ntounis ThanosEDSA delegate25 Nik, Zervoust, 17675, Kalithea,Athens, [email protected]

References1. [Attica Dental Association -

O.S.A.-Dental workforce inGreece, survey December 1998],article in modern Greek.

2. Koletsi-Kounari H. [Dental healthcare of the Greek population, PhdThesis, Athens 1984], article inmodern Greek.

3. Manual of Dental Practice 2004,the Liaison Committee of theDental Associations of theEuropean Union, by Dr AnthonyS Kravitz, Professor Elizabeth TTreasure.http://www.bda.org/education/docs/EU%20Manual%201%20June%202004.pdf

EDSA Topics

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Diagram 1:Distribution of den-tal workforce inGreece.

DISTRIBUTION OF DENTAL WORKFORCE IN GREECE(1998)

ATHENSREST OF GREECE

714659%

492341%

Diagram 2: Dentist : Population ratio across the EU (2004)

CYPRUS

DENM

ARK

FINLA

ND

FRANCE

GERM

ANY

GREECE

HUNGARY

ICEL

AND

IREL

ANDITA

LY

LUXEM

BURGM

ALTA

NTHLN

DS

NORWAY

POLA

ND

PORT

UGAL

ROMANIA

SLOVAKIA

SLOVEN

IA

SPAIN

SWED

EN UK0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000


I have been very privileged to be ableto attend two EDSA meetings thathave taken place in Athens. One inFebruary 2002, and the other inSeptember 2005.

Three and a half years after the firstmeeting, I was back in this 3,500year-old city, and it felt as if it hadonly been a few months since I wasthere last. Some (or actually a lot) ofthe things had changed (and im-proved) for the Olympics, but thespirit of the city and the generosityand hospitality of the peopleremained the same.

The meeting was, once again, flaw-lessly organized by the local organiz-ing committee: Thanos, Matina,Nikos, Natasa, Eirini, Marios andKimon. I would like to use this oppor-tunity to thank them once again.Delegates from all over Europe(Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary,Ireland, Poland, Romania, Serbia &Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain,Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey andthe UK) participated, both as mem-bers and observers. It was again avery constructive and “fruitful” meet-ing, where important issues concern-ing and relating to the dental stu-dents and the dental profession werediscussed, i.e. Green dentistry, HIV-related study, Graduate EducationSurvey, “The Profile of the EuropeanDentist” draft and The Bologna declara-tion. With regards to the latter, whichalthough all of us have read andheard a lot about during the past fewyears, but Prof. C. J. Oulis helped usbecome more acquainted with its“pros and cons” and encouraged usto think about what may be the impli-

cations of the Declaration’s imple-mentation. We are very grateful tohim for sharing his knowledge andexperience on this issue with us. Iwould also like to give special thanksto Prof. Vougiouklakis, the Dean ofthe Dental School of Athens, withoutwhose help this meeting would nothave been the same and also Prof.Ourania Nicolatou-Galatis for hergenerous donation – an atlas of stom-atology.

What made things more interestingwas the fact that, for the 3rd time, theEDSA meeting had been co-organizedwith the DentEd meeting and theADEE Congress. This enabled EDSAdelegates to take active part in bothevents.

The official opening of the ADEECongress took place in the Great Hallof the Main University Building where

many esteemed people, such as Prof.Babiniotis, Rector of the AthensUniversity, Mr. Alexiou, President ofthe Greek Dental Federation (whoalso spoke at the opening of the EDSAmeeting), and the Vice Mayor ofAthens addressed us. Prof. Babiniotisgave a speech on Greek roots of med-ical and non-medical expressions andwords in the English and other lan-guages, which reminded everyone ofthe film My Big Fat Greek Wedding –“Give me a word, any word, and Ishow you that the root of that word isGreek…” : )

Once again, a joint ADEE-EDSAworkshop Postgraduate studies: Is itsomething for me? was co-organizedby an honorary lifetime member ofEDSA, former EDSA executive andcurrent ADEE Ex-Co member, Dr.Nikos Mattheos. It was the workshop

EDSA Events

22

36th EDSA Meeting in Athens, Hellas September 2005“Return to the Scene of the Crime 3.5 Years Later”


which drew the largest number ofparticipants. Nikos brought togetherthree professors (Prof. Claffey, Prof.Beertsen and Prof. Henk Kersten) andfour former EDSA members (Dr.Casper Bots, Dr. Vasia Karathanasi, Dr.Aristomenis Syggelakis and Dr. SteveSmith,) to take part in this workshop.Former EDSA crew gave short presen-tations on their professional worksince they had graduated, and thisled to an intense discussion on a veryold dilemma – whether one shouldgo into research or clinical work, andwhether it is possible to combine thetwo.

Besides discussing dental educationand future careers, we also had achance to visit the dental school andthe fantastic biomaterials’ lab. Prof.Eliades and Prof. Papadopoulos werekind enough to show us how some ofthe equipment in the lab works andeveryone was very fascinated.

As those of you who have attendedprevious EDSA meetings know, theyare not strictly limited to discussingdentistry and dental education. Theyalso give you the chance to learnmore about different cultures, meetpeople from all over the world andget acquainted with new places. Thecity of Athens has an immense varietyof things to offer. It is a city where thepresent meets the past and, apologiesfor repeating myself, I really think thatthe whole city is a living museum andthat each building, stone or wall,destroyed or remaining, has its ownamazing story to tell. Of course every-one visited the famous Acropolis,Herodion (the ancient Theatre) andthe Parliament – where the changing

of the National Guard, evzones, takesplace in front of the Tomb of theUnknown Soldier. Those of us whoarrived early also managed to go toPeloponnesus and visit Nafplio, thefirst capital of modern Greece. Inaddition to the traditional touristattractions, Athens offers so manyother things. You can visit numerousold Orthodox-Christian churches,walk through picturesque areas suchas Monastiraki, Kolonaki, Plaka … andrun into places like Makis’ (referred toby everyone as Mike’s) one-manoperated restaurant, where Makiswelcomes his guests, prepares andserves their meals and always hastime to talk to them in very goodEnglish. He managed to amaze all ofus with his knowledge of history andpolitics, and what surprised everyonewas that he had visited most of thecities or countries we came from. Wealso had a chance to go to typical tav-erns with Hellenic food and music,where everyone enjoyed bifteki, sou-vlaki, tsatsiki, retsina, ouzo and ofcourse danced the syrtaki. SinceAthens is a modern European metrop-olis, it also offers clubs and cafes that

you can find anywhere else in theworld. However, the fact that the illu-minated Acropolis pops up in front ofyou when you step onto the balconyof some of those places makes it evenmore interesting.

What we had hoped, back at theprevious Athens meeting, wouldbecome an EDSA tradition, actuallyhappened and the 7th EDSAvisionsong contest took place in Mike’s IrishPub in Athens. The winners (for the2nd time) were the hosts HELLAS,which just proved that they are theEURO WINNERS (football, Eurovisionsong contest, eurobasket) for the pasttwo years.

I could go on and on about Athens,the meeting, the people, the atmos-phere and the good time we all had,but as you know you can never puteverything on paper you have to livethrough it. I have tried to paint a pic-ture of a part of what we have experi-enced during the 36th EDSA meetingto those of you who were not present,and remind those who were thereabout some of it.

Hope to see you all at the nextmeeting & congress in Novi Sad,Serbia.

Neda Stefanovic, DDSPostgraduate studentDepartment of orthodontics Faculty of StomatologyUniversity of Belgrade

EDSA Events

23

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EDSA Summer 2006

Documents

Transcript of EDSA Summer 2006