[supermatt]

The grandmother received her qualification in Warsaw, which is part of modern day Poland and has never been part of the USSR - so her qualification explains nothing about dentistry in the USSR - as per the comment I was responding to.

  Warsaw itself was in ruins. A great portion of the country’s doctors had been killed, and there was a desperate need for medical professionals of every kind. The intensity of this demand led to a certain loosening of standards in training. This relaxation was even more pronounced in the sister discipline of dentistry. Instead of going to years of medical school, all Zosia had to do to become a dentist was endure a short practicum and pass a test. The test was a set essay, on the “role of the mouth in the beauty of the face”.

[aguaviva]

You are correct, and I wasn't reading too carefully.

The snippet at the end does touch on Soviet dentistry directly, however.