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Background Accreditation of education is very important for maintaining and improving education quality. With the development of modern dental education, more and more attention is being paid to accreditation of dental education in China. Current accreditation of dental education in China is called “dental education evaluation”. By using a systematic review, this paper aims to provide the general profile of the standards and process of dental education evaluation in China (DEEC). Methods A systematic review on DEEC was performed, CAJD and VIP databases were employed to identify all literatures which were relevant to DEEC. Profile and features of DEEC were compared with those of the Accreditation Standards for Dental Education Programs of the USA (ASDEPU). Results The current standards for the evaluation are composed of six modules and twenty-four items, the evaluation process consists of three stages There was some difference between DEEC and its American counterparts. Conclusions Accreditation on dental education is very important for the maintenance and improvement of education quality. As the primary form of dental education accreditation, DEEC is basically suitable for current dental education conditions in China, however, in order to keep pace with the changing conditions, both the standards and actions of DEEC should often be revised.

This study compared the dental curricula at dental schools in China and Japan. A survey was conducted in representative dental schools in China and Japan. It was found that, in China and Japan where dental schools recruit students directly from high schools, more attention is paid to introduction of early professional education. Most dental schools in Japan arrange dental subjects for their students from the first through the fourth years, while in China, only a few dental schools take this path although many of them are currently making changes. It was also discovered that, in both countries, an increasing number of dental schools assign a specific dental subject to the same period with its relevant bioscience or biomedical counterparts, which makes it possible for them to enhance each other reciprocally in a positive way for students and consequently help dental students master the related topics.