Health workforce governance and oral health: Diversity and challenges in Europe

Throughout the life course, oral diseases are some of the most common non-communicable diseases globally, and in Europe. Human resources for oral health are fundamental to healthcare systems in general and dentistry is no exception. As political and healthcare systems change, so do forms of governance. The aim of this paper is to examine human resources for oral health in Europe, against a workforce governance framework, using England as a case study. The findings suggest that neo-liberalist philosophies are leading to multiple forms of soft governance at professional, system, organisational and individual levels, most notably in England, where there is no longer professional self-regulation. Benefits include professional regulation of a wider cadre of human resources for oral health, reorientation of care towards evidence-informed practice including prevention, and consideration of care pathways for patients. Across Europe there has been significant professional collaboration in relation to quality standards in the education of dentists, following transnational policies permitting freedom of movement of health professionals; however, the distribution of dentists is inequitable. Challenges include facilitating employment of graduates to serve the needs and demands of the population in certain countries, together with governance of workforce production and migration across Europe. Integrated trans-European approaches to monitoring mobility and governance are urgently required.