An event will be held in the new year to discuss key questions about the future of the postgraduate clinical dental skills market, and to set out the College’s plans to support practitioners in making their choice of courses and their wider career development.
The UK market for postgraduate clinical dental skills has changed dramatically over the past two decades, and the relationship between professional title and competence in dentistry is now much more obscure than it once was. The event, entitled Raising quality in postgraduate dental skills training, will set out the College’s perspective on these changes and its intentions to help guide patients and the professional community in navigating this confusion.
In 2006, most structured postgraduate clinical development was concentrated in a relatively small number of university programmes and Royal College diplomas. By 2026, the market has become larger, more commercialised, more modular, and increasingly driven by private-sector providers and practitioner demand. Accelerating particularly in the last ten years, there has been a clear shift away from qualification acquisition aligned to structured career pathways, toward a prioritisation of business enhancement, with skills for advanced and high-value treatment options.
While the commercial opportunity for training through this era of rapid change has ushered in real innovation and vastly improved access for practitioners, it has brought with it a good measure of confusion and sometimes questionable quality.
These shortcomings are particularly faced by today’s early career practitioners, who feel much greater pressure to invest substantial sums in upskilling than their predecessors ever did. Delivering high value treatments risks becoming a measure of intrinsic value as a professional, yet the General Dental Council’s statutory authority does not reach far into the oversight of the training market.
The College of General Dentistry has engaged with this challenge since its independent establishment in 2021, and is clear on its own direction, working in the interests of patients and the profession.
We look forward to welcoming to this event everyone with an interest in this subject: training providers, mentors and coaches, and practitioners with experience navigating the dizzying market for clinical skills training.
The event will take place from 3pm-5pm on Thursday 28 January 2027 at Cutlers’ Hall in London, with registration open from 2.30pm.
Tickets cost £30 (with a 50% discount for Members & Fellows of the College). Secure your place via the button below:
Raising quality in postgraduate dental skills training will be followed in the same venue at 6pm by the College’s Fellows’ Winter Reception, including the Presentation of the 2026 College Medal and the Presentations of Associate Fellows and Fellows. This is a chargeable event with separate ticketing arrangements.
It will be preceded in the same venue by the Lindsay Society’s Lilian Lindsay memorial lecture: The development and changing face of implant dentistry. This is a free event but prior booking is required.