Issues concerning the development of a competency-based assessment system for dentistry.

The issue of standards of competence and assessment is central to professions. For the dental profession there have been suggestions that a change from overall competence to specific fields of competence would be a more suitable mechanism to assess whether an individual was competent. This paper examines the implications of such proposed changes and highlights several key issues, answers to which need to be provided prior to adopting new proposals. Failure to do so may well provide additional problems without addressing shortcomings in the present system.