The College has published the third edition of Standards in Dentistry, its comprehensive and free online manual bringing together standards and guidelines for primary care dentistry.
A compendium acting as a guide to personal or practice-based quality assessment, it sets out specific basic and aspirational standards covering 17 areas of practice.
Fifteen of these have been fully updated from the second edition to reflect changes to the evidence base and other contemporary contexts:
- Consultation and diagnosis
- Making and receiving referrals
- Direct (plastic), coronal and root surface restorations
- Indirect coronal restorations (crowns, bridges, onlays, veneers)
- Endodontics
- Implant dentistry
- Management of acute pain
- Management of dental trauma
- Minor oral surgery
- Oral medicine
- Orthodontics
- Paediatric dentistry
- Periodontics
- Complete dentures
- Removable partial dentures
Two new sets of standards have also been added:
- Aesthetic dentistry
- Digital dentistry
The standards are focussed on practitioner processes rather than treatment outcomes, and the book adopts the College’s ‘Aspirational’, ‘Basic’, ‘Conditional’ (ABC) notation for the grading of recommendations.
Standards in Dentistry also summarises over 100 standards, guidelines and advisory publications by the College and 50 other national and international bodies, and signposts to other relevant resources, organisations and legislation.
In addition to synopses of guidance covering the areas of practice listed above, summaries of 18 clinical and non-clinical fields from the second edition have been updated:
- Clinical governance
- Emergency dental care
- Examination and record-keeping
- Infection control
- Medical emergencies
- Medications management
- Oral health
- Pathology
- Patient information
- Practice management
- Prevention
- Radiography
- Research governance
- Restorative dentistry
- Risk management & communication
- Sedation
- Special care dentistry
- Staff training
Four brand new summaries have also been added, covering:
- Antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship
- Environmental sustainability
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Mental health and wellbeing
The first edition of Standards in Dentistry, published by the former Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP) in 2006, combined the functions of two previous FGDP publications, Self-Assessment Manual and Standards (SAMS) and Guidelines for Structure and Process in Dental Practice. The second edition was published in 2018, with the College making it available to the profession since it inherited the Faculty’s portfolio of guidance and standards publications in 2021.
The newly expanded third edition has been two years in the making, with over 1,000 comments received and considered during consultation processes with College Fellows and a wide range of national dental organisations. It is the College’s first comprehensive update of a flagship FGDP publication, and the first standards document to employ the College’s new branding following the recent grant of a Coat of Arms.
It was developed by an editorial team led by Professor Ewen McColl FCGDent (Head of Peninsula Dental School, Chair of the Dental Schools Council, Editorial Director of Dental Update and College Council member), which also included Professor Chris Tredwin FCGDent (Dean of Queen Mary University of London Dental School), Professor Robert Witton FCGDent (Professor of Community Dentistry, Peninsula Dental School), Lorna Burns (Information Specialist and Associate Head of Postgraduate Taught Programmes, Peninsula Dental School), Dr Nicola Gore FCGDent (general dental practice principal and College Council member) and Dr Susan Nelson MCGDent (general dental practitioner, implant dentist and College Council member).
For the benefit of the whole dental profession and all dental patients, the College has made Standards in Dentistry available to view free of charge.
College members can also download it to their devices as a PDF for personal use, giving access to search, text-select and print functionality.
Celebrating the publication of the new edition, Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent, President of the College, said:
“The provision of guidance and standards by dental professionals, for dental professionals, is central to the mission of the College, and Standards in Dentistry is an indispensable reference guide offering a comprehensive pool of information for all those working in general dental practice and primary dental care. Generations of oral healthcare professionals across the world have been supported by this and other publications of the former FGDP in their journey to provide effective clinical care and better outcomes for their patients, and the College will continue to provide this assistance for future generations. On behalf of the College, I would like to thank all the authors for their hard work, and the many College members and external consultees who gave their time to provide feedback and suggestions.”
All dental professionals and practices are encouraged to view Standards in Dentistry by visiting our Standards and Guidance page, where free access is also offered to the following publications:
- Clinical Examination and Record-Keeping
- Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography
- Guidance Notes for Dental Practitioners on the Safe Use of X-Ray Equipment
- Antimicrobial Prescribing in Dentistry
- Training Standards in Implant Dentistry
- Mentoring in Implant Dentistry
- Dementia-Friendly Dentistry
- An Introduction to Research for Primary Dental Care Clinicians
- Implications of COVID-19 for the safe management of general dental practice
Users who are not members of the College will need to be logged into their College Subscriber account; new users can register for free at cgdent.uk/register-new
Print copies will be available for sale in due course.
