College of General Dentistry Recent event

Transitioning from analogue to digital dentistry

CGDent recorded webinar, Tuesday 18 April 2023

In this CGDent webinar, we explore how, with knowledge, understanding and experience, analogue dentistry provides predictable treatment results through careful control of the processes employed. We examine how important these parameters are when making the transition to digital dentistry and discuss how to action the transition successfully.

Speakers:

  • Anthony Laurie MDT FBIDST FCGI, Dental Technician & Managing Director, Dental Excellence LTD
  • Prof Bill Sharpling FCGDent, Chair of CGDent’s Faculty of Clinical Dental Technology & Dental Technology, Associate Dean (CPD) and Director of LonDEC at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London

GDC development outcomes: C

CPD approx 1.5 hours

This webinar is hosted by the College of General Dentistry and powered by our CPD delivery partner, ProDental CPD – register below.

It was free to view live for all dental professionals, and College members also have free access to the recorded webinar and can claim CPD hours for free.  A £20 fee will apply for non-members who wish to claim CPD.

Membership of the College of General Dentistry is open to all registered dental professionals.  Membership is available from £125 per year for dentists, from £83 for other dental professionals, and from £42 for Dental Nurses and those eligible for a concession. See the full list of CGDent membership rates here.

watch webinar

Sign up to our monthly newsletter

College of General Dentistry News

Remimazolam statement

The Intercollegiate Advisory Committee for Sedation in Dentistry (IASCD) has issued a statement on the clinical use of Remimazolam for intravenous conscious sedation for dental procedures.

The IACSD, on which the College is represented, publishes Standards for Conscious Sedation in the Provision of Dental Care – the accepted national standard for
conscious sedation in dentistry in the UK – however the current version pre-dates the authorisation of Remimazolam.

The committee has set out the expected standard of clinical use and training to enable safe use of Remimazolam until an established evidence base becomes available. Relating only to patients over eighteen years of age, the committee’s advice is that Remimazolam should not be used in younger patients until further evidence becomes available.

The statement says:

  • Remimazolam, titrated intravenously as a single drug in adults, shall be used adhering to the same clinical standards and training required for midazolam.
  • The technique is classified as an operator-sedationist technique.
  • An appropriate adult escort is required for post-sedation care, in the same way as for the use of intravenous midazolam.
  • Remimazolam and midazolam should not be used in combination or sequentially on a routine basis and without adequate justification for the same episode of sedation in primary care.
  • Remimazolam should be reconstituted, drawn up and clearly labelled by the clinician administering the drug.
  • Providers of intravenous conscious sedation for dentistry, trained and experienced in the use of midazolam to IACSD standards, do not require further supervised clinical experience. However, clinicians must consult the manufacturer’s product literature and have knowledge of pharmacology, dosing and indications together with an
    understanding of how these fit with the IACSD standards. Evidence of this can be gained through CPD courses with appropriately set aims and objectives.

Further information is available here

The College is hosting a live webinar on 18 May 2023, free to all dental professionals, which will provide an introduction to Remimazolam.

College members are eligible for a 20% discount for a one-day CPD training course in the use of the Remimazolam taking place in Manchester on 5 July 2023.

Sign up to our monthly newsletter

College of General Dentistry News

New PDJ online: Digital dentistry

The latest edition of the Primary Dental Journal, Digital Dentistry, is now live online.

Guest edited by Clinical Professor of Prosthodontics at NYU College of Dentistry USA, Ilser Turkyilmaz, the issue explores various techniques to offer even the most experienced dental professional the latest update on the evolution of technology and materials.

Professor Turkyilmaz clarifies, “Now, well into the age of digital dentistry, clinicians are constantly challenged to find the most modern, relevant material to provide the best quality of care to their patients and ease their labour-intensive workflows. The goal of this issue is to do exactly that, enrich the repertoire of current and new clinicians to help optimise patient care.”

The issue also features the second of five domains from the College’s Career Pathways in Dentistry: Professional Framework, which describes the knowledge, skills and other attributes expected of primary care dental professionals at different career stages – from safe practitioner through to accomplished practitioner. The ‘Professionalism’ domain published in this issue will be followed by ‘Reflection’, ‘Development’, and ‘Agency’ domains in future issues of the Primary Dental Journal. The first domain, ‘Clinical & Technical’, was published in the Autumn 2022 issue, and all domains for every career stage can be viewed online, using the above link.

In addition – and following his 2022 webinar with the College (the recording of which is available on-demand) – we explore Duty of Candour and how this relates to dentistry, with expert in the field, Kevin Lewis. Kevin explains the essentials of the legal, ethical, human, and sometimes contractual duty of candour, and the importance of organisational culture and involving the entire dental team in duty of candour, then focuses on notifiable safety incidents and takes us through the steps needed in dentistry.

Details of the College’s upcoming international conference, Excellence and the dental team (24–25 March 2023), in collaboration with Quintessence Publishing can also be found in this issue and online. Please check here for the up-to-date programme.

A single page cut-out-and-keep chairside synopsis of Antimicrobial Prescribing in Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines is included, providing a handy, practical overview of treatment options for common conditions. The synopsis was developed by the Faculty of General Dental Practice (now College of General Dentistry) and the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Full access to the majority of articles is reserved for College of General Dentistry members and Primary Dental Journal subscribers. For non-members / non-subscribers, individual print issues are available to purchase from £41. An annual print subscription, normally costing £125, is included with membership of the College. Membership is available from £100 for dentists and from £33 for all other registered dental professionals, and also includes online access to the PDJ Archive of over 1,300 articles, and a range of other benefits.

CGDent members and PDJ subscribers should expect their printed copies to arrive in the next 2–3 weeks.

On behalf of the College, the PDJ editorial team would like to express its gratitude to all the authors and peer reviewers who have contributed to the publication of this issue.

A full list of papers is below.

CGDent members can view full articles via the links below by first visiting the PDJ Member Access page and clicking ‘Access the PDJ Archive’.

PDJ online

PDJ Winter 2022 digital dentistry issue contents

Sign up to our monthly newsletter

College of General Dentistry Blog

Orthodontics in general dentistry – an unknown, unknown

Specialist orthodontist Professor Ross Hobson, discusses the complexity and importance of correct assessment and diagnosis of a patient before orthodontic treatment.

Why is Orthodontics important? And why is it important to correctly assess and diagnose the malocclusion before starting out on restorative or orthodontic treatment?

Firstly, it is important to understand that tooth movement occurs throughout life as a natural phenomenon. This mainly affects the lower arch resulting in a reducing arch length, collapse of the inter-canine width and crowding of the anteriors. This is a combination of mesial drift (the process that is thought to allow for interproximal wear occurring due to an abrasive stone age diet), facial growth occurring throughout life and soft tissue age changes (reduction in muscle tone and flexibility). The combined effect on the dentition is similar to blocking the end of a travellator, in that the forward moving teeth crowd up against the ‘barrier’ of the lips.

This crowding results in reducing the ‘Envelope of Function’, a concept first described by Pete Dawson, and ‘Pathway Wear’, described by Greggory Kinzer. The combination of continued tooth movement, the dynamics of the Envelope of Function and Pathway Wear, means that a patient’s anterior tooth position changes with time but the patient’s pattern of function or parafunctional movements do not. 

The lower teeth moving forward at a greater rate than the uppers is a natural phenomenon and the result of this constricts the Envelope of Function resulting in the wear of upper and lower incisal edges. This can lead to chipping of the incisal edges and continued wear occurring.

Too commonly there is failure to correctly diagnose the underlying orthodontic problem. The uppers are restored but the undiagnosed occlusal forces result in failure of the composite. Then porcelain is used and the lower anteriors begin a destructive cycle of incisal wear, with significant loss of lower incisor crown height and overeruption of the lower incisors. Eventually, becoming an extremely difficult problem to correct.

Then there are skeletal and dental malocclusions that can further complicate restorative care eg increased overbites due to skeletal growth, anterior open bites and significant anterior-posterior and transverse malocclusions. Some may be accepted and ‘ignored’ but many will influence the outcome and success of care, dooming some to predictable failure.

In orthodontics there are many ways of achieving a good treatment outcome, fixed, lingual and aligners all can do ‘The job’. However, in some circumstances one appliance type may be better suited to achieving the desired outcome. So, it is important to know the advantages and limitations of the different types of appliances. BUT you must be aware that there is no such thing as a ‘magic’ brace that moves teeth faster or can avoid some implications of orthodontic treatment eg need for extractions.  What is essential is understanding the treatment options available to the individual patient and the advantages and disadvantages of the treatment options – including no treatment.

Understanding orthodontics, the identification and cause of malocclusion and knowledge of how it can be corrected or managed as part of general dental care is essential for all dental practitioners.   Some may be encouraged to go on to learn basic orthodontic techniques to achieve small changes that can be life changing for practitioners and their patients, and others will wish to further develop their orthodontic skills to much higher levels.  This is the basis of the College’s postgraduate training and qualification in primary care orthodontics – to build on current knowledge and skills, with progressive development with skilled mentoring.

Whatever level of skill you wish to attain, it is all based around a sound knowledge of assessment and diagnosis, without identifying a problem, it is an unknown, unknown….

Professor Ross Hobson Leads the College’s Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care Orthodontics and is hosting a three-part CGDent webinar series exploring the possibilities and limitations of orthodontic treatment with fixed braces. The live webinars are free to view for all dental professionals and College members have free access to the recordings and CPD.

The next intake on the CGDent Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care Orthodontics will start in April 2023.

Sign up to our monthly newsletter

College of General Dentistry News

New Certified Membership programme: enrolling now

The College 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, click here

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 here

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

ENROL HERE
College of General Dentistry News

CPD submission reminder

Dentist members practising in the UK are reminded that Saturday 28 January 2023 is the deadline to submit your annual CPD statement detailing professional development activity undertaken between 1 January and 31 December 2022.

Delegates at the CGDent Scotland Study Day, December 2021

The General Dental Council requires dentists to complete a minimum of 100 hours of verifiable CPD every five years, including at least 10 hours during any two-year period, and to submit an annual CPD statement whether or not you have undertaken any CPD in the preceding 12 months.

The College offers members access to a wide range of CPD opportunities:

CPD library

Free, on-demand access to a library of around 1000 hours of certified, GDC-compliant CPD. To access the content, log in to www.prodentalcpd.com using the details sent to you following your transfer/entry into College membership.

This includes recordings of over 30 College webinars held to date, which are also available to non-members for a small fee:

Live webinars

Live, College-hosted webinars covering a wide range of subjects are available free of charge every month, powered by ProDental. Upcoming events include:

Members also have free access to all of ProDental’s weekly live webinars.

And if you miss a live webinar, you’ll find it in the online library within around 24 hours.

Stay up to date with our upcoming webinars at https://cgdent.uk/events/

Study Days

Members receive heavily discounted attendance fees for study days and events. The following are currently scheduled:

Friday 17 February 2023, Stride Dental Academy, Bangor

Friday-Saturday 24-25 March 2023, London

Courses

The courses for the College’s educational qualifications provide significant numbers of CPD hours. The following are currently offered:

Third party resources

The College also recommends the following online resources developed by third parties, each of which offers free CPD:

Sign up to our monthly newsletter

This article was originally published on 22 September 2022 and was updated on 24 November 2022 and 8 December 2022

College of General Dentistry News

College forms 1992 Circle

The College is establishing the ‘1992 Circle’ as a social forum for retired Fellows.

The new group is named in honour of the year the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners was founded, a key moment which brought together the members of the College of General Dental Practitioners (UK) and of the former RCS Advisory Board in General Dental Practice, with the shared ambition to create an independent College over time.

Thirty years on, the 1992 Circle aims to bring together, and recognise, those whose vision put the general dental profession in the UK on a journey towards independent collegiate status, and those whose ongoing commitment carried this through to the establishment of the College of General Dentistry. The group will gather periodically for social events, typically linked to the College’s main activities.

An inaugural gathering will take place at 4pm on Wednesday 18 January 2023 at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, 84 Plymouth Grove, Manchester M13 9LW. In addition to retired current and former Fellows of the College, all those who are retired from practice and are a past Fellow of the FGDP(UK) are eligible to attend and encouraged to make themselves known to the College. Readers are also encouraged to get in touch with retired Faculty Fellows with whom they are acquainted to make them aware of the new group.

There is no charge to become a member of the 1992 Circle or to attend the inaugural gathering. Eligible individuals wishing to attend should email [email protected], using the subject line ‘1992 Circle’.

Attendees at the 1992 Circle gathering who are members of the College are also invited to join the CGDent Fellows Winter Reception, which is taking place a short walk away later the same evening.

College of General Dentistry News

College to develop register of dental experts and assessors

The College 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.”

PDJ’s Dento-legal matters issue
For an in-depth dive into dento-legal matters, see volume 8, issue 2 of the Primary Dental Journal. College members have exclusive and searchable online access to the PDJ archive. For access, log in to the website and click here

College of General Dentistry News

Diversity in Dentistry Action Group moves to CGDent

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.

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, 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 here

College of General Dentistry News

CGDent-Quintessence International Conference: full programme now available

A complete programme has now been published for the Excellence for the dental team International Conference, which is being co-hosted by the College of General Dentistry and Quintessence Publishing in London on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 March 2023.

The conference boasts 34 of the biggest names in dentistry, drawn from eight nations, and will deliver a unique two-day programme encompassing all aspects of dental care from implantology to endodontics.

With 36 presentations and 29 moderated discussions taking place across four different lecture theatres, it will cover the most up-to-date and effective procedures to help everyone in dental practice deliver the best possible patient outcomes, and on the Friday evening delegates will have the opportunity to socialise with the speakers, fellow College members and other participants at a drinks reception, three-course dinner and a party with live band.

The programme is available via the button below.

full Programme