Dental education in Iraq: issues, challenges and future

Abstract

Medical sciences are the substance for appreciation of prevention and treatment of human diseases and improvement of one’s quality of life. Dentistry on the other hand, is a highly demanding profession that requires standard and evidence-based training, so that upon graduation, dentists would be well prepared and qualified for challenging career. Therefore, using a dental curriculum with updated clinical and scientific foundation can help meeting the above objectives and many other requirements. Likewise, a dental curriculum is required to develop and improve skills, maintain comprehensive professional standards to provide more effective and efficient services to individuals and communities. Given that the dental education can have a direct effect on oral health as well as overall health status at the national level, the aim of this paper was to review the current status of dental education system in Iraq. There are thirty dental faculties in Iraq currently. However, the oral health situation is in need of major improvement. This recognizes the importance of dental education reevaluation starting from curriculum structure, content, learning and assessment methods as well as administration and governance of dental education. There is a need for urgent attention in order to enable effective contribution of new dental graduates in improvement contribute in improvement and promotion of oral health for all citizens living in all communities at the national level. Keywords dental curriculum, dental education system, oral health promotion, dmft index, Iraq