«It is true that we are going through a moment of social change in many senses and if we focus on the university, many innovative projects are discerned for the running of our institution», assured the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Dr Silvia Sanchez, during her speech to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the creation of the UB Faculty of Dentistry, entitled «Oncology education at the University of Barcelona». The event, chaired by the vice-chancellor Dr Didac Ramirez, took place on Thursday, November 29 in the Auditorium of the UB.

Dr Emili Cuenca, Professor of the Department of Dentistry, also took part in the ceremony with the lecture «From stomatologists to odontologists: story of a change», in which he remembered the origins of the UB Faculty of Dentistry and the academic and historic setting for the establishment of the studies of Dentistry in the State, after the incorporation of Spain to the European Economic Community. Dr Albert Oriol is President of the Medical Education Foundation, Professor of Physiology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and former director of the Institute of Health Studies, and made his own participation with the talk «Bologna and social responsibility», where he thought over and considered the challenges of the new European space of higher education in the educational framework and the institutional culture on medical care. Likewise, the event was also attended by Dr Josep Lluis Navarro, President of the Professional Association of Odontologists and Stomatologists of Catalonia; Dr Alfonso Villa, President of the General Council of Dentists of Spain, and Dr Mariano Sanz, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the Complutense University of Madrid and President of the Conference of Deans of the Faculties of Dentistry in Spain.

Dr Silvia Sanchez explained in her speech that «the introduction of the degree in Dentistry at the University of Barcelona meant the beginning of a steady relationship between teachers from different areas of knowledge». According to the Dean, «thus, the coordination turned out to be necessary between professors teaching the basic and medico-biological subjects in the Faculty of Medicine and those coming from the School of Stomatology, in the same faculty, who should give the odontology courses». Dr Sanchez reminded that: «for the teachers of basic subjects with a long experience with the clinical colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine, including myself, a new phase was beginning, in which we were adapting teaching to other educational patterns and trying to adjust our knowledge to a new student profile».

The situation was new and different for the professors in the School of Stomatology as well. Their students would not have a university qualification first – since they would not be graduates in Medicine and Surgery –, but they would be students coming directly from the university entrance exam, which is a completely different group.

«The academic year 1988-1989, our beloved first class, started to make their first fillings in phantoms of the preclinical laboratories and the first impressions were taken in the mouth. This was an essential knowledge for students to be able to carry out their first treatments in patients the following year – in their fourth year – since Dentistry students acquired clinical skills working directly on patients under the supervision of teachers, "said the Dean of Dentistry.

Dr Sanchez also went over the teaching and research careers at the Faculty of Dentistry – in 2012 the 22nd UB class of odontologists will graduate – as well as several cooperation agreements established with international institutions. «Anyway, within the legal framework in which we will continue working, you will agree with me that we will be proud of belonging to the University of Barcelona and training odontologists with a background of high level knowledge and skills but also capable of treating patients with the greatest respect and ethic», concluded the Dean.

The Faculty of Dentistry is a university school created in 1986 at the UB, after the enactment of Law 10/1986 on odontologists and other professionals in dental health. The Faculty ―integrated in the Health University of Barcelona Campus (HUBc) and recognized as a campus of international excellence by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and Ministry of Education ― has as main objectives the training of future professionals in the field of dentistry and the promotion of research, while maximizing collaboration between basic and clinical research in dentistry.

With a clear European vocation, the syllabus of the faculty promotes the formation of new graduates who are prepared to undertake the necessary activities to ensure the oral health of the population as regards prevention, diagnosis and treatment of anomalies and diseases of teeth, mouth, jaws and attached tissues, and the connection of everything with the overall health and physical and social welfare of patients.