A common European curriculum for dental hygiene.

Abstract

The European Dental Hygienists Federation (EDHF) is a not-forprofit organisation that, to date, represents 24 national Dental Hygiene Associations across the European Union, European Economic Area and the World Health Organisation (WHO) European Region (Table 1). Founded in 1999, the EDHF now represents associations with an estimated membership of 38 000 dental hygienists,1 and the aims of EDHF have thus developed to include: • Improving access to high quality preventive oral health care. • Providing a platform from which to exchange information and promote dialogue between member associations. • Supporting professional development and continued professional education of dental hygienists. • Collaborating with oral health and wider health organisations for the benefit of the profession and for the health of patients. The EDHF meets annually at its pan-European conference, and various internal taskforces exist longitudinally relating to enhancing oral health literacy, and harmonising the skills and training of dental hygienists across Europe. The latter, in relation to the training of dental hygienists, forms the basis for this series of curriculum papers. This introductory paper aims to describe the current situation with respect to the training of dental hygienists across Europe, and to outline the process by which EDHF has established a new Common European Curriculum (CEC). It is expected that dental hygiene educators will use the CEC as a starting template when authoring or updating curricula, taking into account their own local levels of regulatory practice.