On 23-24 May 2025, the Council of European Dentists (CED) Member and Affiliate Member associations met in Gdańsk, Poland for their biannual General Meeting under the chairmanship of CED President Dr. Freddie Sloth-Lisbjerg. This year’s meeting was kindly hosted by the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists. CED Vice-President Anna Lella welcomed the delegates on behalf of the hosts.

Professor Dr Andreas Rainer Jordan, Research Director at the Institute of German Dentists (Institut der Deutschen Zahnärzte) and lecturer at the University of Witten/Herdecke joined as honorary invitee to the General Meeting. Prof. Dr Rainer Jordan delivered key findings to the delegates from the 6th German Health Study, studying oral health status, oral health behaviour and cariology prevalence in Germany. This address outlined insightful data and evidence-based knowledge on the evolution and status of oral hygiene behaviour, dental caries prevalence, preventative and primary dental care services.

The General Meeting was also addressed by the European Dental Students’ Association (EDSA), represented by Filip Galo (Vice-President of Internal Affairs).

Delegates were updated on the latest media publications, activities and interventions delivered to CED member associations, participation to external and member events as well as the organisation of the CED’s latest joint policy event at the European Parliament on 8 April titled “Better Oral Health on the European Agenda”. The event was prepared jointly with the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), the Federation of European Dental Competent Authorities and Regulators (FEDCAR), the European Dental Students’ Association (EDSA), Platform for Better Oral Health.

Additionally, delegates were informed of the publication of the 2024 CED Annual Report, available here.

The General Meeting was also updated on the work of CED Working Groups and Task Forces, which followed with the adoption of 6 policy documents:

CED Resolution on Artificial Intelligence (update), available here.

The 2020 CED Resolution was updated with the inclusion of new recommendations and additional background information based on AI developments from the last few years.
More wording was also included on clarifying dentists’ liability when working with AI, use of white box AI, as well as reference to key legislative updates. The document also received input from the European Dental Students’ Association (EDSA).

CED Statement on the implementation of the MDR (update), available here.

This Statement from 2022 was updated, particularly stressing the risk of shortages of provenly safe medical devices, the need to address the lengthy recertification times, and other ongoing issues surrounding the MDR.

CED Resolution on tobacco, alternative tobacco and tobacco-free nicotine products (update), available here.

The 2013 CED Resolution on tobacco, previously on the proposed Tobacco Products Directive, was updated with regards to the current situation of tobacco consumption, related oral disease prevalence, and industry technological advancements. This update joins the common call for a revision of the EU Tobacco legislation. It broadens the scope of the paper and includes alternative tobacco products, snus, and nicotine products, as well as the understanding of the oral cavity, and the role of dental practitioners in the detection and diagnosis of oral cancers and diseases relating to tobacco consumption.

CED Resolution on reducing sugar consumption and preventing oral diseases (update), available here.

The update to the 2016 Resolution brings in new key additions relating to the mention and outline of sugar overproduction, import and consumption in Europe, and integrates a tighter focus on the risk factor approach, the social-economic burden of sugar consumption, oral health promotion strategies, the role of dental practitioners in sugar consumption reduction and prevention, and the EU’s nutrition policy.

CED Resolution on Antimicrobial Resistance, One Health and Oral Health: An Integrated Cross-Sectorial Approach (update), available here.

The CED prepared this update in recognition of ongoing European efforts in the field of AMR, with strong focus on the One Health principle, current situation of antimicrobial resistance in the healthcare sector and linking availability and accessibility of care.

CED Statement on Quality of Dentistry across Borders, available here.

Finally, the CED adopted a statement, developed by BTF Internal Market, reflecting some of the challenges and concerns of European dentistry specifically in relation to third country (foreign educated) dentists on matters such as linguistic knowledge, professional ethics, familiarity with the healthcare system of their country of work.

The Council of European Dentists (CED) is a European not-for-profit association representing over 340,000 dental practitioners across Europe through 32 national dental associations and chambers in 30 European countries. Established in 1961 to advise the European Commission on matters relating to the dental profession, the CED aims to promote high standards on oral healthcare and dentistry with effective patient-safety centred professional practice, and to contribute to safeguarding the protection of public health. The CED is registered in the Transparency Register with the ID number 4885579968-84.

For more information contact:
CED Brussels Office
Tel: + 32 2 736 34 29
ced@cedentists.eu
http://www.cedentists.eu