Aims: To explore Dental Public Health (DHP)/Community Dentistry education and curricula in the Nordic dental schools and compare these with European standard.

Methods:  Cross-sectional  survey  of  the  Nordic  dental  schools was conducted in spring 2020. We used the European Association for  Dental  Public  Health  (EADPH) Special  Interest  Group  survey questionnaire in this study. The anonymous questionnaires were sent electronically to dean/head of the dental schools in Denmark, Finland,  Iceland,  Norway  and  Sweden.  Reminders  were  sent  to non-responders. The findings were compared with corresponding European ones.

Results: In total, 86 % (12/14) of the dental schools responded to the survey. Most of the dental schools (9/12) reported to have a dedicated department or unit for teaching of DPH. The volume of DPH teaching ranged between 3 and 25 ECTS credits (mean: 10 credits). In the Nordic countries, subjects ‘Equity of care’ (92 % vs 68 %) and ‘Remuneration and payment systems’ (92 % vs 62 %) were well covered, but‘Public Health approach and skills’ (58 % vs 89 %) was significantly below the European level.

Conclusions: The study found that DPH/Community Dentistry education in the Nordic countries is in general at good European level,  but  not  in  all  subject  areas.  Great  variation  between  the countries and schools exists.