The President of the College of General Dentistry, Dr Abhi Pal, has told a committee of MPs that it will take more than contract reform to persuade more dental professionals to deliver NHS dental treatment.

Dr Pal, a general dental practitioner and Principal of an NHS-contracted dental practice in Edgbaston, was addressing the House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee during an oral evidence session on NHS dentistry in England on 21 March. During a discussion focussed on the attractiveness of NHS dentistry to dentists, he said: “I’ve heard the evidence earlier on, and first of all I have to concur with colleagues about the state of the contract and dental contract reform, which is sorely required. But it’s not just a question of contract reform – whilst that’s very important – it’s also a question of making dental professionals’ careers more fulfilling and providing some degree of recognition for what they’re doing.

“Everyone goes into dentistry to provide the best care they can, and it’s worthwhile pointing out that beyond Dental Core Training, which is some two years post qualification, there is no effective career pathway or structure for dentists to follow, and there is a large void left there.

“There’s also little recognition from the NHS for dentists who have sometimes invested significant quantities of money in order to enhance their skills. If working conditions in that sense, and recognition, could be made better, the NHS would be seen as a more attractive place – particularly for younger dentists, and international dentists – to come and work.”

He later added: “We speak to a lot of early career dentists – dentists within the first three or four years of qualifying – and invariably they say a number of things. One is that they are a little bit lost as to which direction they should go. And they see less future within the health service – we’ve talked about all the reasons that there are before, and they can’t work to the best way that their training has allowed them to work. I think there are small changes, including contract reform, in terms of supporting professional development, that the NHS could be considering.”

He said that in order to retain dental professionals within the NHS workforce, consideration should be given to supporting their training and development, and to supporting the development of more professional networks, peer review opportunities and mentoring schemes. He summarised that:

“All of these things, put together, in addition to contract reform, would go some way in making the NHS more attractive than it is now.”

The College recently opened a Certified Membership programme built around its freely available Professional Framework for Career Pathways in Dentistry, and speaking during the same evidence session, the Chair of Health Education England’s Dental Education Reform Programme informed committee members that HEE was already working with the College to look at how the NHS might recognise the career progression of dental professionals working in primary care.

Written evidence previously submitted by the Faculty of General Dental Practice – which transferred into the College in 2021 – told the committee that the current NHS dental contract in England is “ill-conceived and not fit for purpose”, “crude and ineffective”, and that many patients struggle to access NHS dental care as “the funding simply does not provide the universal offer they expect”.

Last year, Dr Pal visited No.10 Downing Street for a discussion on access to careers and progression in dentistry, and he has also discussed these issues with the Shadow Health Secretary.

Video of Dr Pal’s comments on the lack of career structure and recognition is available here

The full Health Committee evidence session on NHS dentistry can be viewed here

Dr Mick Horton FCGDent, former Dean of the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP), has been appointed as the next Chair of the College’s Trustee Board.

Dr Horton qualified from Manchester University in 1986, initially working in Fleetwood, Lancashire. In 1992, he purchased a mixed NHS/private practice in Caergwrle, North Wales, where he worked for the next thirty years.

In 2015, he became the ninth Dean of the FGDP, and the first non-Fellow to have been elected to the post. Under his Deanship, the Faculty initiated the process of separating from the Royal College of Surgeons of England to create an independent college for general dental professionals. He has served as a Trustee of the resulting College of General Dentistry, into which the FGDP transferred in 2021, since completing his three year term as FGDP Dean in 2018.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Horton chaired the joint FGDP-CGDent working group which developed Implications of Covid-19 for the safe management of general dental practice, guidance which the organisations published a week ahead of the re-opening of dental practices in England, at a time when no official guidance for re-opening was available, and which was downloaded over 50,000 times in that week alone. In 2020 he was elected to the Fellowship of FGDP in recognition of his exceptional career record and active support of the Faculty and its mission.

Dr Horton’s experience also encompasses 22 years as Chair of his Local Dental Committee, ten years as Vice Chair of his local Health Board, 20 years as a postgraduate CPD tutor, working as a dental nurse examiner and being a member of the Welsh Dental Committee as well as Managed Clinical Networks. His professional interests include patient safety, human factors, risk management, mentoring and quality improvement, and he continues to serve on national policy groups in these areas.

In 2021, he was Guest Editor of the first issue of the Primary Dental Journal published by the College, on the theme of leadership and professionalism, and he has since chaired College webinars on leadership and professionalism and delivered one on preventing wrong tooth extraction, and earlier this month was a speaker at its event on creating a positive patient safety culture in dentistry.

In taking up post as Chair in April 2023, he will succeed Dr Janet Clarke MBE, former Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England, who joined the Board of Trustees in 2019 and became Chair in 2020. During her tenure, the College has formally launched, successfully incorporated the membership and intellectual assets of the FGDP, opened up Full Membership and Fellowship to all suitably qualified registered dental professionals, opened its ‘by experience’ route to Fellowship, created the new grade of Associate Fellowship, published its Professional Framework for career pathways in dentistry and launched its Certified Membership scheme.

Outgoing Chair, Janet Clarke, said: “It has been a great privilege to lead the College of General Dentistry over the last few years, during which it has been established and, building on the legacy of the FGDP, begun its vital work of creating an independent organisation built by, and specifically for, general dental professionals. I am proud to be handing over the reins to Mick, who is a highly experienced, respected and forward-thinking general dental practitioner with an unsurpassed knowledge of, and dedication to, the College and its mission.“

Commenting on his appointment, Dr Horton said: “Having been passionate about the College of General Dentistry since its inception, it is a joy to look back and see that such considerable progress has been made, in a short period of time, in establishing the College and pursuing its mission. It has been a great pleasure to work with Janet on the Trustee Board, and I would like to thank her for her leadership and commitment in driving our progress, and congratulate her on all that has been achieved. I am honoured to have now been given the responsibility of steering the College through its next phase, as we develop and implement new ways of supporting the profession to enjoy fulfilling careers in general dentistry, with structured progression. We can only do this with the support of the profession, so I call on all colleagues to play their part at this historic moment by joining us in membership.”

The College of General Dentistry has announced the appointment of Kevin Lewis FCGDent as an Ambassador.

College Ambassadors, drawn from a variety of backgrounds, provide strong advocacy for the mission and vision of the College as it works towards eligibility for the award of a Royal Charter.

Following a number of years in general dental practice, Dr Lewis spent 27 years at Dental Protection, including as Dental Director between 1998 and 2016, and served on the Council and Executive of the Medical Protection Society. He is Consultant Editor of Dentistry and a Special Consultant to BDA Indemnity. He recently demitted office after five years as a Trustee of the College and founder member of its predecessor Transition Board. He has been awarded Honorary Membership of the British, Irish and New Zealand Dental Associations, and of the British Society for Restorative Dentistry, and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Dr Lewis’s appointment enriches the already considerable expertise and scope of influence of the College’s team of Ambassadors:

• Dr Eugene Chan SBS BBS JP FCGDent, Visiting Professor at Jinan University, Guangzhou
• Professor Jonathan Cowpe FCGDent, former Director of Postgraduate Dental Education in Wales
• Dr Shelagh Farrell FCGDent, Founder Member of the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK
• Dr Marina Harris, Senior Lecturer and Periodontology Lead, University of Portsmouth Dental Academy
• Professor Jacky Hayden CBE, President, Academy of Medical Educators
• Professor Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet
• Dame Parveen Kumar DBE, Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Education, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London
• Professor Jason Leitch CBE FFGDP(UK)(Hon.), National Clinical Director, Scottish Government
• Dr Ian Mills FCGDent, Founder and former Trustee of the College, and former Dean of the FGDP
• Dr Govin Murugachandran, Founder, Flynotes
• Dr Yewande Oduwole, Associate Dentist
• Marie Parker, Deputy Programme Director of Hygiene and Therapy at University College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust London
• Rt Hon Sir Mike Penning, Member of Parliament
• Dr Wendy Thompson FCGDent, Lecturer in Primary Dental Care, University of Manchester
• Dr Pouya Zohrabpour, Associate Dentist

Commenting on the appointment, Dr Abhi Pal FCGDent, President of the College, said: “I would like to extend my congratulations to Kevin on his appointment as an Ambassador of the College, which follows a period of time in which he has been a valued Trustee. The College is privileged to have such a distinguished member of our profession supporting our cause, and I am delighted that we will continue to benefit from his wide experience and enthusiasm.”

Kevin Lewis said: “It has been a real privilege to have spent the past five years as a Trustee and Board member of the College, from its inception through to launch as an autonomous, independent collegiate home for all members of the dental team working in general dental practice. In time it will hopefully blossom into the Royal College that dentistry and general dental practice so richly deserve. In the meantime, I am delighted to continue my association with the College in the capacity of an Ambassador, and would urge any colleague involved in general dental practice to join CGDent and support it on this historic journey.”
 

The College of General Dentistry has launched Certified Membership, a new, enhanced membership scheme offering elevated professional recognition and ongoing one-to-one career support.

In June 2022, the College published Career Pathways in Dentistry: Professional Framework, which sets out the attributes which define each of five career stages – safe, capable, experienced, enhanced and accomplished – for each role in the primary dental care team, and for each of five domains within each stage – clinical and technical, professionalism, reflection, development, and agency.

Using the Professional Framework, Certified Membership offers structured support for individuals to map out their career journey, working with a trained facilitator to plan and document the staged acquisition of the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary to enable them to fulfil their professional ambitions. With flexible scheduling of support, it will enable dental practitioners to make the right investment in training, build confidence in their practice, and maintain momentum in their career, all while carrying on with their jobs and busy lives.

Their Certified Membership status will aid them in their journey, offering formal recognition of their capability at each stage of their career, demonstrating their commitment to professionalism and high standards of practice, and signifying their dedication to further professional development.

Phase 1 of the programme, with a limit of 50 places, is now open to dentists. For details of how to enrol, visit https://cgdent.uk/certified-membership/

Those who have successfully registered with the GDC (or an equivalent) are recognised as having reached the Safe Practitioner stage of the Career Pathway, and are eligible for Associate Membership of the College.

Those who have successfully completed Foundation Training (or equivalent) are recognised as Capable Practitioners, and once they have enrolled on the Certified Membership scheme, held an initial session with their facilitator and produced a personal development plan, are eligible for Certified Associate Membership of the College (Assoc.MCGDent(Cert.)).

Certified Membership has four components – formal qualification, ongoing self-reflective journal, online study and the structured facilitator support – which work together to support the practitioner, and require the self-discipline and personal insight needed to succeed in dental practice. The programme continues for as long as a Certified Member wishes to retain that recognition.

Those who meet the requirements for Full Membership of the College, complete a minimum of two years within the Certified Membership programme, and meet the requirements of Experienced Practitioner status, are eligible to become a Certified Full Member of the College (MCGDent(Cert.)) and to be listed as such in the College’s public Member Register.

Those who meet the requirements for Associate Fellowship of the College, have completed at least two years within the Certified Membership programme, and meet the requirements of Enhanced Practitioner status, are eligible to become a Certified Associate Fellow of the College (AssocFCGDent(Cert.)).

Enrolment in Certified Membership is an enhancement of standard membership at an additional annual fee of £150, which includes two half-day one-to-one sessions per year with a facilitator. Standard membership fees are available to view at https://cgdent.uk/membership-fees

The scheme will be rolled out to other dental professional groups as soon as possible.

The College of General Dentistry has declared its intention to develop a register of individuals with suitable experience and training to act as dento-legal expert witnesses or dental assessors.

At present, the College recognises education and experience in this area through the Law & Ethics domain of Fellowship – which can be fulfilled (among other ways) by holding a PgCert or PgDip in a legally-related subject relevant to dentistry, or a law degree or LLM together with five years’ experience as an expert witness, or having substantial experience of providing or assessing performance and/or expert reports.

Experience as an expert witness is also one of the means by which a dental professional might demonstrate Accomplished Practitioner status in the Professionalism domain of the College’s Professional Framework.

However, there is no formal or understood route to working in this field, and it is hoped that a transparent pathway to do so will encourage more practising dental professionals to undertake suitable training, increasing the pool and visibility of available experts and assessors so that those with the most relevant experience can be easily identified and instructed.

Guidance from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges states that to act as an expert witness, healthcare professionals should have the necessary clinical knowledge, training and experience1, and the College will convene a working group drawn from across the dental professions to determine appropriate criteria for inclusion in the register.

Dr Abhi Pal, CGDent President, said: “The College considers it essential that those who are given the huge responsibility of providing opinion on a colleague’s performance in an official capacity have the appropriate training and experience to do so. This not only includes expert witnesses but also other dental professionals who provide performance reports. The College supports improved training and standardisation of dental expert witnesses as part of its mission of supporting careers and setting standards for the ultimate benefit of the profession and public. We intend to develop a register of suitably trained expert witnesses and assessors to support this work, and look forward to working with all stakeholders in the dento-legal field to achieve this.”

The Diversity in Dentistry Action Group (DDAG) is now hosted by the College of General Dentistry.

The group, formed in 2020 to deliver action to identify and address discrimination of all types within the dental professions, comprises over 70 members drawn from more than 35 national dental organisations.

These include the College as well as the Annual Conference of Local Dental Committees, the African & Caribbean Dental Association UK, the Association of Dental Groups, the Association of Dental Hospitals, the British Association of Dental Nurses, the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the British Association of Dental Therapists, the British Association of Oral Surgeons, the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry, the British Association of Clinical Dental Technology, the British Dental Association, the British Dental Industry Association, the British Dental Students’ Association, the British Endodontic Society, the British Institute of Dental & Surgical Technologists, the British Orthodontic Society, the British Society of Dental Hygiene & Therapy, the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry, the Care Quality Commission, Dental Protection, the Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors, Community Dental Services, the Dental Laboratories Association, the Dental Professionals Alliance, the Dental Schools Council, the European Dental Students Association, the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the General Dental Council, the LDC Confederation, the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers, the National Institute for Health Research, the NHS Business Services Authority, NHS Health Education England, Restorative Dentistry UK and the Society of British Dental Nurses.

In 2021, DDAG published a landmark report, Equality, diversity and inclusion within dentistry: a profession-wide commitment, which made a number of recommendations after identifying significant disparities in the ethnic profile of dental students, dental professionals and clinical dental academics, and significant under-representation of individuals from black ethnic minority backgrounds, and of women in leadership positions within dentistry.

Nishma Sharma

While originally initiated within the Office of the Chief Dental Officer for England, DDAG has always been led by the member organisations themselves and operated independently of the NHS, and it will continue to operate independently within CGDent.

Dr Nishma Sharma, Chair and founder of the DDAG, said:

“Like the College of General Dentistry, the Diversity in Dentistry Action Group is an organisation formed by and for the profession it serves, and our move to the College reflects our shared commitment to ensuring that all dental team members are represented and supported, across both NHS and private dentistry, throughout the UK and beyond. On behalf of DDAG’s members, I would like to thank the OCDO for having enabled and supported our work over the last two years, and we look forward to continuing to work together at CGDent.”

Dr Abhi Pal

Dr Abhi Pal, President of the College of General Dentistry, said:

“The realisation of the College’s founding mission – to promote career progression and job satisfaction for every dental professional – requires a wholehearted commitment to ensuring equality, diversity and inclusivity within our great profession. The Diversity in Dentistry Action Group brings the whole profession together with this purpose, we have been a member since its inception, and we are extremely proud to be its new home.”

Further information is available at https://cgdent.uk/ddag/

The College of General Dentistry is organising a Primary Dental Care Research Poster Award, and all dental professionals, dental students, trainees and members of the wider dental team may enter.

Initial submissions must take the form of a structured abstract of up to 350 words about research into a topic of relevance to primary dental care, highlighting the research process undertaken and the clinical importance and implications of the results obtained. Submitted abstracts should follow the format: title, author name(s), practice or institutional affiliations, aims and objectives, methods, essential results, conclusion. Entrants should indicate their professional registration category or job title (or student/trainee status), and note any funding received. Abstracts should not include images or graphics, and the research must not yet have been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Abstracts should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document by email to contact@cgdent.uk no later than Sunday 15 January 2023, using the subject line “CGDent primary dental care poster award”.

Acceptance of abstracts will be notified by email by 15 February 2023, and a detailed specification will then be provided for preparation of an electronic poster for presentation on a plasma screen. Posters of accepted entries will need to be submitted as a PDF by 10 March 2023, and will be displayed at the CGDent-Quintessence Publishing “Excellence for the Dental Team” international conference taking place in London on 24-25 March 2023. Entrants must be willing to attend and present their displays for adjudication during the conference (day passes will be provided).

An overall award will be given for the best poster presentation. Adjudicators may group entries according to career stage, scope of practice and role within the primary dental care team. A further award (or awards) may be made within one or more of these categories.

The CGDent–Quintessence Publishing International Conference is a unique two-day programme, with 36 presentations and 29 moderated discussions taking place across four different lecture theatres, and encompassing all aspects of dental care from implantology to endodontics. Details are available at https://cgdent.uk/2022/07/11/biennial-international-conference-2023-excellence-for-the-dental-team/

Full details of the CGDent Primary Dental Care Research Poster Award, and a link to guidance on writing abstracts, are available at https://cgdent.uk/2022/11/10/the-cgdent-primary-dental-care-research-poster-award/