Continued competency: the experience of the California Dental Association.

The California Dental Association has developed a program--Quality Improvement through Lifelong Learning or QUIL3--that enables a dentist to privately and confidentially determine whether he or she meets current clinical practice standards and has the requisite knowledge to practice dentistry competently. Using the concept of continuous quality improvement (CQI), this innovative program was two years in development and attempts to positively and proactively address issues associated with dental performance. QUIL3 is an initial step.