Karolinska Institutet named world's leading dentistry university

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has published its 2026 World University Rankings by Subject, naming Karolinska Institutet in Sweden as the top-ranked institution for dentistry globally. The Swedish university is followed by the University of Hong Kong, the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and King's College London in the UK.

Geographic distribution of top dentistry programmes

The rankings show strong geographical diversity among leading dentistry programmes worldwide. Of the top ten institutions, five are located in Europe, three in Asia and two in North America. In the top 25, Europe leads with 11 institutions, followed by North America with seven, Asia with five, while Latin America and the Middle East each have one institution represented.

The 2026 QS ranking for dentistry encompasses 150 institutions and evaluates them using five indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per paper, volume and impact of scientific output, and international research network.

Karolinska's vision for dental education and research

Prof. Bodil Lund, head of the Department of Dental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, described the qualities of a leading dentistry university as embracing internationalisation, fostering a good working environment for academic staff, and supporting translational multidisciplinary research with relevance to education and clinical practice. She emphasised the need to integrate oral health more fully into general health, highlighting the bidirectional importance between oral disease and systemic disease. Karolinska Institutet ranked first in dentistry in 2019 and 2022, and returning to the top spot reflects the institution's continued commitment to improving dental education and research.