British Isles symposium on the future of dental clinical skills training

A symposium on the future of dental clinical skills training is reported. Abstracts of the symposium presentations review the current and future use of simulation in dental education, future skills training in the creation of new dentists, equipment and methods for simulation, the transition from simulation to clinical practice and recent developments in simulation employing new technologies. The report concludes that simulation will continue to have an important, probably increasing role in dental education, and that further developments in clinical skills training should be sensitive to changing patterns of dental disease and opportunities to provide clinical instruction.