Our closing session features a key note presentation by Prof Mariano Sanz from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain. an experienced and respected clinician, educator and researcher in the fields of periodontology, implantology and dental education. Prof Sanz speaks to us on his  views on the “Teaching and learning Implant Dentistry: The interphase between undergraduate and postgraduate education?”.

European Dental Curricula are framed under competence based curricula where dental graduates must be competent to undertake the basic dental interventions that cover most of the community oral health needs.  These needs, however, have probably evolved faster than the ability of the dental schools and dental curricula to adapt. This is particularly the case in the interventions related to implant dentistry, which are highly demanded by the public and however, have not really fully permeated within current dental undergraduate programs. Moreover, the advent of fast technological advances in digital dentistry aimed to simplify some of these interventions are still far from reach in most undergraduate dental curricula. In this presentation we shall discuss some of these barriers and propose some clues to interphase undergraduate and dental education and how the transition between competences and proficiencies in dental implant interventions could be integrated in a pragmatic and rational manner.