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Globalisation has affected all aspects of life and dentistry is no exception. In the context of today's dentist being a global citizen, undergraduate training in dentistry is set to ensure converging standards so that international recognition of dental qualifications can move forward. The decision of the Dental Council of India to expand the undergraduate dental program to five years provides an opportunity to be part of the endeavor of the Global Dental Congress to achieve converging standards which was initially for the European Union, and now spreading out globally. Economic emergence in Indian subcontinent has resulted in growing oral health care needs both in quality and quantity. To address this issue, the graduating dentist needs to be trained following a competency based curricular model. Access to Internet facilitated the goal of achieving converging standards of dental schools to be feasible because of the instant communication and capacity to share information about training strategies via technology across the globe. Upgrading the undergraduate training to global standards by dental schools in India could be a wise and strategic move both for attracting students to study in India, as well as retaining the graduates after their training. The following is a case study of an Indian dental school set to restructure the undergraduate curriculum to global standards using the 8 steps of Kotter's transformational change. Change in curriculum and the subsequent accreditation of the school in global platform not only attracts prospective students but also results in producing competent dentists. Dental education provided by the institution can result in quality assurance, benchmarking the assessment system to achieve international recognition. This paper highlights the need and importance of facilitation of international convergence with long term aspirations for mutual recognition of international degrees.

Survival of immediately placed implants in infected sockets is predictable and depends on the meticulous debridement of dentoalveolar sockets along with adequate pre- and post-operative antibiotic coverage.

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Objectives:To assess the attitudes of pregnant women and mothers of children with orofacial clefts toward prenatal diagnosis of clefts and elective termination of pregnancy, and to investigate their opinion about who makes reproductive decisions in the family.Design:Two hundred subjects were included in the study prospectively regarding hypothetical prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of clefts.Setting:The study was done in a private tertiary care institution and a teaching hospital.Subjects/Participants:One hundred pregnant women consulting the Obstetrics department and 100 mothers of children with orofacial clefts in the Cleft and Craniofacial Unit were selected.Materials and Methods:Group I subjects were interviewed using a questionnaire and were shown preoperative and postoperative pictures of children treated for cleft lip and palate. Group II subjects were interviewed using a questionnaire.Results:Only 3% of Group I subjects and 2% of Group II opined that they would choose the elective termination of pregnancy if the fetus was diagnosed with a cleft on an ultrasound scan. In Group II, 70% subjects wished to have known about pregnancy affected with cleft prenatally and 96% said they would definitely avail ultrasound scans to determine pregnancy affected by clefts in future.Conclusions:Majority of the respondents from both the groups chose to continue with the pregnancy affected with a cleft when questioned regarding hypothetical prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of the cleft.

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Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) is an aggressive round cell malignancy of presumed neural crest origin belonging to Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors. Peripheral PNET is less common in head and neck region and only eight cases of primary PNET of maxilla have been reported. We report a case of 3-year-old boy diagnosed with PNET of maxilla based on detailed radiologic, histopathologic, and immunohistochemical studies. Though the imaging features of PNET are nonspecific and definitive diagnosis is only by immunohistochemistry, PNET should be included in the differential diagnoses of fast growing soft tissue tumors of children and young adolescents. We emphasize the need for its early diagnosis and prompt management owing to its aggressive nature and high mortality rate.