2019 has proven to be yet another busy year for the CED as we continued our policy activities. In addition to our work in the areas of professional education and regulation, patient safety, health promotion and disease prevention, medical devices and dental materials, eHealth and environmental aspects of dental practice, we were also pleased to welcome our first European Dental Students’ Association intern, who will provide us with the invaluable perspective of the future generation of dentists until mid-2020.
The year 2020 has started with an enormous and unforeseen challenge, which goes far beyond the strict confines of our profession, yet affects us all deeply – the COVID-19 pandemic with its many consequences for public health, our economies and our societies in general.
The way we respond to it together will be a litmus test, not only for our profession and for the CED, but also for our national governments and for the EU Institutions. Regardless of the different national approaches to the pandemic, common ethical principles must remain paramount for all European dentists: safeguarding patients’ health and safety, facilitating continuity of care, and retaining consciousness of the social nature of our profession. All these must be maintained and reinforced in difficult times. Cross-border collaboration and exchange of information and best practices between CED Members have probably never been so helpful as in recent months.
It also remains to be seen how the COVID-19 crisis impacts on the initial priorities of the new European Commission that were of particular interest to the CED, such as the Green Deal, the Europe Beating Cancer Plan and the EU’s work on Artificial Intelligence.
With the support of our members, for which I am very grateful, we stand ready to face the challenges and to seize the opportunities that 2020 holds for dentistry and oral health in Europe.
Dr. Marco Landi
President (Italy)
