As part of our commitment to achieving our goals, the ACFF has worked hard to push for the development and implementation of Core Curricula in Cariology into dental schools around the world.
There have long been inconsistencies between different countries in the focus and content of dental degrees. This can lead to disparities in the skill-sets of graduating dentists, particularly between countries. These inconsistencies, particularly within the teaching on cariology, were the catalyst for intervention by a group of European organisations focused on creating a standardised curriculum which reflects up to date scientific understanding of caries as a disease continuum, along with recommendations for cyclical classification and management processes.
The European Core Curriculum in Cariology (ECCiC) began its development in 2010, headed by the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), along with the Organization for Caries Research (ORCA) and the American Dental Education Association (ADEA), with input from the ACFF.
The intention behind these curricula is to create standardisation within dental schools in the way caries is viewed and assessed.
A special edition of the European Journal of Dental Education was published in November 2011, focusing on the development of the ECCiC.
Since 2010, the ACFF has worked alongside ADEE, ORCA and ADEA to further the implementation of the guidelines created, and facilitated a number of workshops alongside ADEE Conferences focusing on next steps for the ECCiC. Adapted curricula have been developed by a number of ACFF Chapters, with translation into Spanish prompting consensus amongst a number of Latin American dental universities. A US/Canada adaption has been implemented, along with discussions in progress in dental schools across Asia.
It is hoped that through further encouragement towards adaption and adoption of the ECCiC, there will be greater standardisation in skill sets across dental graduates, allowing employers and patients to feel safe in the knowledge that their practitioner is appropriately equipped to provide them with high class, preventively focused, cariology treatment.
The European Core Curriculum in Cariology is currently being comprehensively updated to reflect 15 years of progress in non-surgical and modern evidence-based caries management. Overseen by a global working group of 40 experts, the revised Curriculum will harmonise its domains and competencies and support consistent, globally relevant cariology education. Presented at the 2026 ORCA Congress in Zagreb, it will be published shortly in the journal Caries Research, with a clear focus on implementation worldwide.
The Dental Caries Primer shown below summarises current knowledge of dental caries and its management, providing an important evidence base that informs the Core Cariology Curriculum.
It has been cited more than 5,000 times as of 2026. A new paper, featuring a refreshed panel of authors, is now in development and is due to be published in 2027 – watch this space.
(Nature Reviews Disease Primers volume 3, Article number: 17031 (2017))