Dental education in Sénégal

At the present time Senegal has two types of dental education: a full university training for dentists and a training programme for operating dental auxiliaries. The teaching objectives of the Institute of Dentistry and Stomatology were defined in such a way that these two grades work together in a public health team trained in accordance with the general principles of a common education in preventive and social dentistry. This dental education system which has received the full support of WHO and is backed by the educational and hess in all the African countries which send students for training in Dakar. This success is undoubtedly due to the fact that the system is designed to train personnel adapted to the special problems found in Africa, with a realistic approach to local conditions, and capable of providing effective help for the African communities whose dental health needs have for too long been neglected.