The College has this week published the fiftieth issue of the Primary Dental Journal, its quarterly peer-reviewed professional development journal for General Dental Practitioners and Dental Care Professionals working in primary care.
Translating current evidence into best practice, each issue of the PDJ offers a combination of research, clinical best practice papers and scenario articles which allow the whole dental team to work together to improve standards of patient care. Unique in its dedication to general dental practice, the PDJ’s general issues include a range of papers on a variety of relevant topics of interest, and its themed issues explore subjects in depth and are guest edited by renowned experts in their fields.
First published in 2012, the PDJ brought together three publications of the former Faculty of General Dental Practice of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FGDP): Primary Dental Care (a research journal for dentists), Team in Practice (a journal for Dental Care Professionals) and the newsletter First Hand. Since 2019, the PDJ has been published in partnership with one of the world’s leading journal publishers, and the College took over editorial production from the FGDP in 2021.
CGDent is the UK’s only medical college run by and for dental professionals, and welcomes all oral health professionals into Associate Membership and those with relevant postgraduate qualifications, skills and experience into Full Membership, Associate Fellowship and Fellowship. Supporting professional development and recognition for the whole dental team, the College is building on the achievements of the FGDP in setting standards for general dental care, and has a vision to achieve Royal College standing.
The PDJ is printed and distributed to the College’s UK and international members, indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus, and 1,500 papers past and present are available online to College members and in over 10,500 academic institutions worldwide.
In addition to 9 general issues to date, themed issues of the PDJ have been published on:
- Infection prevention and control
- Radiology and radiation protection (x2)
- Implant dentistry (x3)
- Management of caries
- Aesthetic dentistry (x3)
- Medical emergencies
- Advances in the restoration of posterior teeth
- Non-surgical therapy and management of periodontal disease (x2)
- Prescribing in dentistry
- Communication, complaints & consent
- Special care dentistry (x2)
- Paediatric dentistry (x2)
- Oral mucosal disease
- Endodontics (x2)
- Tooth wear
- Orthodontics
- Operative dentistry
- Dental emergencies
- Extended integrated care
- Removable prosthodontics
- Digital dentistry (x2)
- Primary care oral surgery (x2)
- Dental pain & anxiety
- Dento-legal matters
- Fixed prosthodontics
- Oral health and the ageing population
- Leadership and professionalism
- Urgent dental care & COVID-19
- Dental trauma
The titles and abstracts for papers in all these issues are available to all dental professionals via the searchable PDJ homepage, with full paper access available to members of the College through the PDJ Library (members will need to be logged in to see this page).
Fittingly, the new 50th issue is a bumper ‘General dentistry’ edition with papers covering a wide range of topics such as an assessment of how artificial intelligence can assist in the evaluation of patients’ medical histories; a guide to skin cancer and what to look for in protecting your patients; how digital innovations can enhance occlusal diagnostics and treatment precision; the role of hypnosis in patient stress and pain management; and minimum intervention oral care. In this special issue, six papers have been made available in full to the whole dental profession free of charge. A full list of papers is available here
A reception to celebrate the first 50 issues of the PDJ was recently held in London, hosted by Professor Sir Nairn Wilson CBE FCGDent (Chair of the first Editorial Board), Professor Igor Blum FCGDent (current Editor-in-Chief) and Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent (President of the College).
The next three issues of the PDJ will be on oral medicine, leadership and temporomandibular disorders, and dental professionals can make sure to receive these by joining the College. Membership is available from £45 and includes a range of other benefits.
While full PDJ access is reserved for members, non-members can access the College’s standards and guidance publications free of charge online, and receive its free monthly email of news and events, by becoming a College Subscriber
Commenting on the publication of the 50th issue, Sir Nairn and Prof Blum said:
“The Primary Dental Journal has a rich history of serving general dental practice, and is pertinent to members of the whole dental team. It has earned an established place as an authoritative source in today’s dental literature and is one of the premier journals for intellectual discourse on all aspects of primary dental care. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the very many authors, guest editors, peer reviewers, staff and others who have contributed to each of the 50 issues to date and enabled us to reach this important milestone.”
