Month: June 2023

President’s Commendation & Honorary Fellowship awards 2023

The College of General Dentistry (CGDent) has announced the recipients of its second annual award of honorary fellowships and the President’s Commendation.

Three individuals have received Honorary Fellowship, recognising their significant and career-defining contributions to dentistry aligned with the College’s mission.

William Beare is one of the UK’s leading prosthodontists, and has contributed both regionally and nationally to patient care and to the education of all members of the dental team. He worked in general dental practice from 1975-86 before serving twenty-three years in the Royal Army Dental Corps, including as First Consultant in Restorative Dentistry to the Armed Forces, until 2009. He also worked part-time in private practice in Devon and Cornwall from 2000-2018, and since 2012 has been the Clinical Lead of Derriford Dental Education Facility at Peninsula Dental School, while remaining an Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry to the British Army. As well as inspiring students, he runs numerous courses for practitioners in the South West, and many in the military dental services have benefitted from his support and revision courses.

Two recipients of Honorary Fellowship have been awarded it posthumously. The College does not often make posthumous awards, however as a new organisation it has not previously had the opportunity to provide these individuals with the special recognition they deserve:

Larry Browne was a proud and dedicated dental technician with fifty years of experience, who was highly influential for many dentists and dental technicians. The long-time editor of Dental Technician, he was one of the original dental implant technicians in the UK and indeed one of the very earliest Fellows of the International Team in Implantology, also guiding many dentists toward Fellowship. A former Fellow also of both the British Institute of Dental and Surgical Technologists and the Dental Technologists Association, and a former Licentiate of the City and Guilds of London Institute, his legacy lives on through his great contribution to the progress of dental technology, and through the education and training centre in Enniskillen which bears his name.

Philip Tucker began his career in the 1960s as an apprentice dental technician at a laboratory near his home in Potters Bar, and from the late 1970s he started campaigning for a new career pathway that would enable dental technicians to see the public in a direct capacity for denture provision. His tireless commitment to this cause was instrumental in the addition in 2007 of Clinical Dental Technician as a regulated title in the UK, and his contribution, alongside others, enabled later generations to pursue this career path. Throughout his career, he championed excellent patient care, education and the progression of dental technicians’ knowledge and understanding to become clinicians, and he influenced and mentored many dental technicians and clinical dental technicians in the UK and around the world.

One individual has received the President’s Commendation, which is conferred by the President on the recommendation of the elected College Council, and which recognises significant service to the dental profession by College members, at local or national level, including through the College or former Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP).

David Lynch MCGDent is the seventh winner of the award and has exemplified the College’s commitment to dental education throughout his career, both in his own training and in his support for students and peers. He has also been recognised for his dedication to NHS dental patients in a high needs area, and for his longstanding service to the College and former Faculty in the North East of England. A dentist at Frederick Street Family Dental Practice in Sunderland since qualifying from Newcastle Dental School in 2005, he holds the Diploma of Membership of the Joint Dental Faculties (Dip. MJDF) and the FGDP(UK) Diploma in Restorative Dentistry, and enjoys teaching and mentoring as a Foundation Dentist Educational Supervisor. Now in his thirteenth year as a trainer, he is regarded as a natural teacher and is appreciated by mentees. He is known for his encyclopaedic knowledge, for being a willing guide with dental complexities, and for his respect for the evidence in all that he does.

All four awards were formally presented by College President Abhi Pal at the 2023 CGDent Fellows’ Summer Reception. Larry Browne’s posthumous Honorary Fellowship was accepted on his behalf by his widow, Sue, and Philip Tucker’s by his son, Jody.

ADG welcomes expansion of dental training in NHS Long Term Workforce Plan

The Association of Dental Groups has welcomed the publication of the first ever Long Term Workforce Plan published by the NHS and backed by the Government today.

The Workforce Plan sets out how the NHS will address existing vacancies and meet the challenges of a growing and aging population by recruiting and retaining hundreds of thousands of more staff over the next 15 years, including dentists. dental hygienists and therapists.

The Plan proposes to increase training places for dental therapists and hygiene professionals to more than 500 by 2031/32 and increase training places for dentists by 40% to more than 1,100 by the same year.  In support of this training places for dental therapy and hygiene professionals will increase by 28% by 2028/29 with an increase of 24% for dentists to 1,000 places over the same period.

Neil Carmichael, Chair of the ADG said: “The fact that we now have a long term workforce plan including dentistry is a welcome recognition of the recruitment and retention challenges facing the profession.  We believe we should act now over international recruitment to address the immediate crisis and this plan then paves the way for the subsequent investment needed in our domestic dental schools and workforce for the future.  The ADG welcomes that this process is underway and that the Government is backing the plan to fund additional education and training places over the next five years on top of existing funding commitments.”

Workforce plan must go hand in hand with reforms to regulation and clinical negligence law, says DDU

Responding to today’s publication of the NHS Long Term Workforce plan, Dr Matthew Lee, chief executive of the MDU, the DDU’s parent company, said:

“The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is a welcome step forward – but it is precisely that, a first step on a journey to improve the working conditions of healthcare professionals in the NHS.

“Our members working in the NHS are doing their utmost to deliver exceptional patient care in the most difficult and pressured of circumstances. For too many, this is sadly impacting on their own health and their ability to care safely for patients.

“There is much to welcome in this plan, but workforce retention in the NHS is not helped if the regulatory system that healthcare professionals are subjected to is as outdated as the ones currently operated by the GDC and other regulators. Long awaited reform of these regulators must now urgently follow today’s announcement.

“You also cannot harness every penny possible in the NHS towards front line patient care if billions of pounds every year are leaving the system in clinical negligence settlements, because of a legal system that is no longer fit for purpose – with certain laws governing compensation being older than the NHS itself. The government has long promised action to address the unsustainable cost of clinical negligence and it’s now time for concrete proposals to see the light of day.

“The government has pledged an additional £2.4 billion to fund additional education and training places. But it is a sobering thought that this amount would be eclipsed in one year alone by the annual cost of harm reported by NHS Resolution. In 2021/22 this figure stood at over £13 billion. These amounts cannot be ignored in discussions about funding for more healthcare professionals. We need the government to tackle this issue.

“The DDU continues to make a strong case for these reforms with regulators and the government.”

BDA: Workforce plan latest attempt to fill a leaky bucket

The British Dental Association warn plans to boost dentist numbers represents an exercise in futility without first tackling the failed, underfunded systems driving practitioners out of the NHS.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, set to be published tomorrow, is understood to state ambitions to train thousands more dentists by 2030.

The professional body stress the government has only brought forward minor tweaks to the discredited NHS contract fuelling retention problems, and with it the access crisis facing millions across England. In the absence of change, dentist leaders say any gains in capacity risk being lost, and at pace.

Over half (50.3%) of high street dentists responding to recent BDA surveys reported having reduced NHS commitments since the start of the pandemic. 74% stated their intention to reduce – or further reduce – their NHS work. This movement is not being tracked by official data, which counts heads, rather than commitment, and gives dentists who do just one NHS check-up a year the same weight as an NHS full-timer.

The BDA has long advocated a fully funded workforce plan to address the ongoing crisis in the service. However, with the NHS’s 75th birthday just days away recent government pledges for a fast tracked ‘recovery plan’ for NHS dentistry have yet to bear fruit. Contrary to consistent claims made by the PM that the number of NHS dentists has bounced back, official figures secured last month by the BDA under freedom of information indicate just 23,577 dentists performed NHS work in the 2022/23 financial year, over 1,100 down on numbers pre-pandemic, a level not seen since 2012.

British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch said: “This workforce plan is government’s latest attempt to fill a leaky bucket.

“Failed contracts and underfunding are fuelling an exodus from this service. There’s little point training more dentists who don’t want to work in the NHS.”

The dental regulator, the General Dental Council, has recently gone on the record stating bringing in more dentists will not solve problems fuelled by broken contracts.

“Improving the throughput of those from overseas who want to be registered in this country is the right thing to be doing,” said GDC chair, Lord Toby Harris at the Annual Conference of Local Dental Committees earlier this month. “But it is not some magic bullet that will solve the problems in NHS dentistry.”

“If the contractual terms by which NHS services are provided are unattractive to many dentists currently on the register, then there is no reason why those same terms will be any more attractive to new registrants – whether they are from overseas or who qualify here,” he added.

The Government has consistently championed the import of overseas dentists. There are currently around 1,500 candidates waiting to sit Part 1 of the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE). While the BDA supports urgent action to deal with this huge backlog, it does not represent a solution to the access crisis

Colleagues acquire one of the biggest dental practices in London thanks to £5.6m finance from Unity Trust Bank

A dental group with one of the largest NHS contracts in the country has been bought by two colleagues following seven-figure finance from Unity Trust Bank.

Dr Kuldipsinh Gohil and Dr Jasmin Thoria used a £5.6m loan to buy Sterling Dental Group in Southall, which predominantly serves South Asian and Somalian communities.

The practice’s 18-strong team of dentists are all from diverse backgrounds which helps break down language barriers and encourages patients to look after their oral health.

Dr Gohil, who also owns practices in Somerset and Wales, said: “The Sterling practice is the first of its kind. Our staff understand South Asian lifestyles because they are from similar backgrounds and people feel comfortable coming here and communicating with us. 

“This is particularly important for second generation families who have tended to have a phobia of dentists. We also do a lot of work with children about the importance of oral hygiene.

“Dr Thoria and I had been working at Sterling for five years and when it came on the market we knew we wanted to buy it. It’s a people-friendly organisation with a nice structure and we want to continue to be as accessible as possible.

“We spoke to a few lenders but we really liked Paul Kelly, our relationship manager at Unity. His approach was different from the others. He wasn’t just looking at us as a business; he wanted to help and support us which was quite unique.

“We take a holistic approach to our patient care and Unity’s approach to business is similar. They were positive and made the whole process easy. We wouldn’t get that support from anyone else.”

Sterling, which is contracted to carry out specialist treatments for the whole of north west London, also operates a private dental clinic as well as a training centre.

Six new jobs have been created at Sterling since the buyout and there are plans to link with universities to develop more student opportunities at the group’s training centre, which is also in Southall. It currently supports around 280 student placements a year.

Paul Kelly, Relationship Manager at Unity Trust Bank, said: “We only lend to like-minded organisations that share our values, so we were delighted to support the acquisition of Sterling Dental Group.

“The operators have a deep connection with the local community and this was evident when visiting the surgeries on multiple occasions.

“From understanding residents’ needs and actively promoting better oral health, to creating new jobs and training opportunities, Sterling is having a positive impact in Southall.”

BSPD President visits Downing Street in support of ‘Free School Meals for All’

Dr Jenny Harris, President of BSPD joined a group of supporters of the ‘Free School Meals for All’ campaign outside Downing Street today. The ‘No Child Left Behind’ group responsible for the ‘Free School Meals for All’ initiative delivered its open letter, signed by BSPD’s President on behalf of the Society, calling for an extension of free school meals to all children in primary schools in England. Primary schools in England do not currently receive funding for ‘Free School Meals for All’ – despite the scheme being announced in Scotland, Wales and most recently in London as part of a one year scheme to support families with the cost of living crisis. 

The open letter, signed by more than 240 community organisations, faith groups, charities and trade unions, and over 90,000 individuals, came on the penultimate day of the Free School Meals for All campaign’s National Week of Action (24-30 June), which has a series of local and national events and activities. The Free School Meals for All campaign is supported by nearly 90 MPs, Peers, local councils and mayors, who are putting their weight behind the call to ensure no child goes too hungry to learn at school.

Mrs Jenny Harris, President of BSPD, said, “BSPD supports the ‘Free School Meals for All’ campaign because day-to-day, our paediatric dental colleagues see the impact poor diet has on children’s health and wellbeing.  We know that a good nutritious meal at lunchtime helps children to get the most out of their school day.  Being healthy, and that includes having good oral health, allows children to enjoy both their studies and their playtime.

“At BSPD we have recently focused on children’s rights. To fulfil the right to reach their potential requires all children to have access to healthy nutritious food.  We need the Government to support this right by giving free school meals for all primary school children in the UK.”

GDC welcomes news that European dental qualifications will continue to be recognised in the UK for the next five years

The General Dental Council (GDC) welcomes today’s announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) that standstill provisions providing for automatic recognition of European dentists’ qualifications will be retained for a further period of five years. 

Around 17% of all dentists on the UK register have European qualifications and made up 37% of all dentists who joined the register in 2022. They make an invaluable contribution to the UK dental workforce.  

Legislative reforms providing the GDC with the powers to amend rules for the registration of those who qualify outside the UK were provided just three months ago. The additional time provided by the extension of standstill arrangements will allow for modernisation and meaningful improvements to regulatory processes before additional capacity for the assessment of European qualifications is needed.  

The continuation of the automatic recognition of European dentists’ diplomas means that the process for those dentists to join the UK register will remain, including checks on language, health and character. The announcement will also reassure those who have left the UK to study dentistry in Europe that their qualification will be recognised in the UK when they return.  

While this latest extension is welcome, there are concerns about ongoing uncertainty for professionals and regulators, as the extension of arrangements is again temporary, the need for a further review yet to be determined, and the timetable for full scale reform of the GDC’s legislation remains unclear.  

Stefan Czerniawski, Executive Director, Strategy, said: “We are pleased that the Government has agreed with our arguments that the current arrangements for recognising European dental qualifications should continue for the time being. Although in the longer term we believe there is a strong argument for a single approach to international registration, now is not the time to disrupt the flow of new entrants to the UK dental workforce.”

Jason Wong named interim CDO England

Jason Wong, who has served as Deputy CDO England since June 2020, has been named as Interim Chief Dental Officer England as Sara Hurley prepares to depart from the role of CDO England at the end of June.

Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, confirmed the news, stating: “Representing the entire dental profession across England, the role of the Chief Dental Officer is a joint appointment between Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, with their base in NHS England.

“I am pleased to inform you that Jason Wong will take over from Sara on an interim basis while we recruit for a permanent replacement.”

Recruitment for a permanent CDO England will begin soon.

Set new professional goals for yourself

The Straumann Group offers an extensive selection of training programmes in dental implantology. There are courses available to suit a wide range of clinical levels, time commitments and locations to fit in with the busy working lives of clinicians.

Courses include the renowned Foundation in Implant Dentistry (FID) from the International Team for Implantology (ITI) and Dr Jonathan Schofield’s 3-year MSc in Dental Implantology at the University of Bristol. The Straumann Group also counts such prestigious organisations as The Campbell Academy, VSSAcademy, The Delta Dental Academy and the British Academy of Implant and Restorative Dentistry (BAIRD) amongst its programme providers.

Dental nurses can also take advantage of Straumann Group programmes tailored to their requirements, such as the ITI’s Dental Implant Advanced Nursing Course 2023, which looks at implant dentistry from a dental nursing perspective.

Take your career goals to the next level with professional training supported by the Straumann Group.

For more details please visit www.straumanncourses.com.

 

The future is bright for dental technology

Delegates flocked to DTS to see a range of enlightening sessions, hosted by passionate and knowledgeable speakers.

Here’s just some of the feedback from the sessions over the Friday and Saturday:

“I really enjoyed my time. Some very good speakers, who covered some interesting subjects. I’ve come away with new information.” L. Ansell, Wade Dental Lab.

“Informative, good speakers, enlightening topics from an interesting angle. The exhibition is always good.” Renata Noori, Dentist at Top Medical Birmingham.

“Useful and informative, some tips pinched to take back to the lab!” Simon H, Ceramicist at Queensway Dental Laboratory.

Register your interest today to book your place for next year’s show! 

DTS 2024 will be held on 17th and 18th May, NEC Birmingham, co-located with BDCDS.

For more information and to register your interest, please visit the-dts.co.uk