The Role of Professional Dental Associations to Ensure the Quality and Safety of Dentists' Activity

Dentistry is one of the most popular and dynamically developing branches of medicine. Everyone is interested in obtaining the best quality care in safe conditions. In order to ensure that the processes for improving quality and safety in dentistry are coordinated, scientifically substantiated, an effective instrument for regulating the system is needed. One of the most important such regulators are professional medical associations. However, many members of the dental community in Russia are not sufficiently informed about the activities of professional associations, and the latter do not have the highly significant status of an expert and an assistant, including due to the lack of the right of legislative initiative assigned to them. Despite this, the issue of associations' participation in the life of various medical branches is increasingly being raised in Russia. The goal of the research is to determine what activities are regulated and what role professional dental associations play to ensure the quality and safety of dental practitioners in Russia. Based on the results of the research, conclusions will be drawn as to whether the professional associations realize the declared responsibilities, whether they are an effective tool for improving the quality of dentists' activities in the Russian Federation.