Proceedings of a workshop, held in Constanta, Romania on 22 May 2014, on Oral Health of Children in the Central and Eastern European Countries in the context of the current economic crisis

This report presents the proceedings of a workshop held in Constanta, Romania on 22 May 2014. During the workshop, representatives from 18 Central and Eastern European countries gave oral presentations on the current oral health of children and young adults aged 16 years and younger. The aim of the workshop was to collect and present data relating to the oral health of children from Central and Eastern European countries and to discuss them in the context of the political changes that have taken place over the last two decades and the recent economic crisis. The presenters had previously completed a series of questions on oral epidemiological studies, prevention of oral disease, treatment and payment, dental personnel, uptake of oral health care and other considerations and structured their presentations on these topics plus the influence of the economic crisis on oral health. It should be remembered that this paper is a report of the proceedings of a workshop and not a study. Ethics approval is not required for workshops. After the 18 oral presentations a 90 min discussion took place during which further points were raised. The presentations, the discussion and the conclusions which were reached are reported in this manuscript.