The LDEK question base — what is actually in it

The Centre for Medical Examinations publishes an open question base for dentistry too, and 70% of every LDEK paper is drawn from it — 140 of the 200 questions you will sit. Below: how many questions each field holds and what reading it is written from.

From the base
70%
On the paper
140/200
Questions
2,492
Fields
10

Where the 70% rule came from

The open base follows an agreement reached on 8 February 2018 between the Minister of Health and the Residents' Agreement of the OZZL, enacted in the amendment of 16 July 2020. It covers both final examinations — medical and dental — and has been in force since the spring 2021 session.

In practice 140 questions on your paper come from a set you can work through in advance, and the remaining 60 are new. Against a pass mark of 56% — 112 points out of 200 — the base alone takes you a long way, provided you understand the answers rather than memorising letters.

Field by field

CEM splits the base into 10 fields and publishes each as a separate list. The counts are questions in the current single-best-answer format — one correct option out of 5.

Conservative dentistry and endodontics The largest field in the base — caries and cariology, restorations and composite materials, endodontics of mature and immature teeth, retreatment. 614 questions Prosthodontics Fixed and removable prostheses, prosthetic materials, implant prosthodontics, diagnosis of the masticatory system. 325 questions Paediatric dentistry Development of dentition, early childhood caries and its prevention, dental trauma, managing the young patient. 375 questions Oral surgery Extractions and alveolar procedures, cysts and inflammatory lesions, pre-prosthetic surgery, maxillofacial trauma. 359 questions Periodontology Periodontal disease and the 2017 classification, non-surgical and regenerative treatment, oral mucosal disease. 194 questions Orthodontics Orthodontic diagnosis and cephalometric analysis, malocclusion, fixed and removable appliances, materials and techniques. 246 questions Emergency medicine Resuscitation and ERC guidelines, emergencies in the dental surgery, anaphylaxis, management of trauma. 119 questions Bioethics and medical law The Polish Code of Medical Ethics, consent, confidentiality, patients rights, professional liability of a dentist. 115 questions Public health Organisation and financing of dental care in Poland, epidemiology of caries, population-level prevention, oral health promotion. 82 questions Medical certification Certifying incapacity for work, sick leave, social insurance benefits, certification paperwork. 63 questions

2,492 in total · the full CEM listing runs to 3,378 entries including the older format

If you sit the exam in English

The exam is translated for you. The base is not — CEM publishes it in Polish, and the same goes for most of the required reading.

Dentistry is a partial exception, and it is worth knowing where. In conservative dentistry and endodontics CEM lists three English-language texts as compulsory — Sturdevant's Art & Science of Operative Dentistry, Kidd and Fejerskov's Essentials of Dental Caries, and Tronstad's Clinical Endodontics. That is the largest field in the base, so a meaningful part of the canon is already in your language. Every other field is Polish only.

One caution about strategy: LDEK questions repeat between sessions considerably less often than LEK questions do. Working through the base is a solid foundation, but on the day you will meet a fair number of questions that were never in it.

Free LDEK mock exam in English Sitting LEK instead?

Will the base be abolished?

The Ministry of Health has drafted a bill (UD384) that would end the open base for both final examinations. After the spring 2026 session, in which 91.8% of LDEK candidates passed, a separate call to classify the questions followed. Nothing has been enacted and there is no commencement date; the 70/30 rule stands until there is.

Figures counted from the question lists published by the Centre for Medical Examinations (LDEK question base) and the official reading list (CEM textbooks), as at August 2026. Polska wersja tej strony .