Commenting on the announcement that an additional £50m of funding will be provided for NHS dentistry in England over the next ten weeks, Dr Abhi Pal, President of the College of General Dentistry, said:
“New funding for dentistry is to be welcomed, and today’s announcement will provide short-term help to a significant number of people who have struggled to get their oral health needs met during the pandemic, especially children and patients with autism, learning difficulties and severe mental illness.
“However, it is important that longer term underfunding and recruitment problems are also addressed, and the NHS dental contract reformed, as even before the pandemic only half of adults in England were able to access NHS dental care. The College will also be supporting workforce retention through its Career Pathways programme.”
The College of General Dentistry is offering discounted membership fees to dental care professionals, all of whom are now eligible for Associate Membership.
Dental Hygienists, Dental Therapists, Dental Technicians and Clinical Dental Technicians pay only one-third fees for their first year’s membership, meaning those joining as Associate Members pay just £33.
In a pioneering move for a UK dental college, all registered dental professionals are able to apply for Full Membership (MCGDent) if they hold a relevant Postgraduate Certificate or an equivalent qualification, and Dental Hygienists, Dental Therapists, Dental Technicians and Clinical Dental Technicians doing so pay only £94 in their first year.
Those holding a relevant Postgraduate Diploma, Master’s degree or an equivalent qualification are eligible for Associate Fellowship (AssocFCGDent), a new ‘stepping stone’ to Fellowship, and dental team members joining at this grade will pay £117 initially.
The first year’s fee for dental care professionals joining as Fellows (FCGDent) – initially only those awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the College, or previously by the Faculty of General Dental Practice, a UK Royal College or equivalent – is £144.
Dental Nurses and Orthodontic Therapists receive the same two-thirds discounts, at all membership grades, on an ongoing basis.
Dental practice managers, and other non-clinical members of the dental team, can join the College as Affiliate Members for £50 per annum.
The Primary Dental Journal Archive is now up and running, with access for CGDent members fully established.
The Primary Dental Journal (PDJ) is the College of General Dentistry’s quarterly peer-reviewed journal, and with its unique dedication to general dental practice, is widely recognised as a leading resource for all dental professionals working in primary care.
Three themed issues in each annual volume explore topics of interest and relevance to the primary care dental team, led by an invited Guest Editor who is a renowned expert in the field, with one ‘general issue’ per volume covering a wide range of topics.
Published by the Faculty of General Dental Practice until its transfer into the College earlier this year, PDJ was first issued in October 2012, and was preceded by Primary Dental Care.
As well as receiving quarterly printed copies of the latest issues of PDJ, College members now have exclusive online access not only to the full articles in the current issue, but to all past PDJ content and all Primary Dental Care content published this century, a rich resource of over 1,300 articles spanning 23 volumes and 88 issues.
Curated by our publishing partner, SAGE Publishing, the PDJ Archive is an invaluable research tool, offering a wide array of clinical papers of ongoing relevance to general dental care, as well as articles covering a range of professional topics which continue to be discussed and debated.
It offers members access to content which they may not have received in print at the point of publication, and for those who were longstanding members of the FGDP and may prefer to consult their library of print issues, the online search functionality will enable them to quickly identify where to find particular articles.
Members may be interested to note that the College is now co-producing a series of webinars that examine topics covered in recent and imminent issues of PDJ. These are free to view live, with CGDent members also offered a free CPD certificate and free on-demand access to the recordings. Visit our events page for a list of upcoming live webinars and to access recent webinar recordings.
Dr Debbie Reed AssocFCGDent has received the inaugural Janet Goodwin Award, which was conferred last night by Abhi Pal, President of the College of General Dentistry (CGDent), at a reception marking the 80th anniversary of the British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN).
The new award was instituted to recognise achievement by dental care professionals (DCPs) in areas such as leadership, standards of professionalism and patient care, commitment to life-long learning, service to the profession and advocacy for the whole-team approach to general dental care.
A dental nurse, Associate Fellow of CGDent, and accomplished and passionate tutor, Dr Reed is Head of the Department for Digital and Lifelong Learning and the Centre for Professional Practice at the University of Kent, where she developed and runs the Masters in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice pathway). She received the award in recognition of her extraordinary commitment to her own education, as well as that of others throughout the whole dental team. She completed an educational doctorate in 2019, and has written and contributed to articles on topics such as mentoring, evidence-based practice in dental nursing, and the professional image of dental nurses. The award also recognises her ‘can do’ attitude, her inspiration of others to want to achieve their very best, and her advocacy for DCPs to have the same career opportunities and experiences as dentists. Last year she was awarded the BADN Outstanding Contribution to Dental Nursing Professional Practice Award in recognition for her work with dental nurses.
The award to Dr Reed was announced in April 2021 by the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP), which elected not to host a conferral ceremony at the time due to concern over potential coronavirus transmission.
The award honours the legacy of the late Janet Goodwin FFGDP(UK)(Hon.), who throughout her almost 50 years as a dental nurse was a staunch advocate for the advancement and recognition of DCPs.
In a wide-ranging career, Janet worked in general dental practice, community practice, secondary care and healthcare management. She was the first dental nurse to be a member of the General Dental Council, and held a number of other notable posts including Chair of the GDC Standards Review Group and President of the Oral Health Foundation, and was both an Examiner and Chair of the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses. She served the FGDP for many years as a representative for the interests of the wider dental team, and became an Affiliate Member of the Faculty when it opened its membership to DCPs in 2005. An elected member and Chair of the Faculty’s DCP Committee, she sat on the Board for over ten years as an Observer, contributed to many standing committees, provided input during the development of standards and guidance, and was awarded Honorary Fellowship in 2019. She passed away in September 2020 after a long battle with breast cancer.
National dental and medical organisations have come together again to support the World Health Organisation’s Antimicrobial Awareness Week, which runs from 18-24 November.
The Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists and College of General Dentistry, supported by the Association of Dental Hospitals, British Dental Association, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, British Association of Oral Surgery, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, British & Irish Society for Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, are reminding patients that “antibiotics do not cure toothache”, and encouraging the dental team to adhere to best practice and only prescribe antibiotics as an adjunct to definitive clinical management of the cause when indicated according to national guidelines.1-2
Prudent prescribing of antimicrobials can slow down the development of antimicrobial resistance, and all healthcare prescribers play a vital role. The dental profession has shown its commitment to addressing antimicrobial resistance by significantly reducing the use of antibiotics over the last decade, both in dental practice and a hospital setting. Dental hospitals in the UK and Ireland reduced antibiotic prescriptions by 22% and 30% for therapeutic and prophylactic indications respectively between 2018 and 2020 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic).
It has been reported that COVID-19 had a negative effect on the profession’s endeavours in improving antibiotic prescribing patterns. The organisations therefore encourage dental teams in both general practice and hospital settings to re-start auditing3 their practice of antibiotic prescribing against the recently updated national guidelines1-2, as this will help to reduce the use of antimicrobials and improve patient outcomes.
The successful management of acute dental infections requires accurate diagnosis and definitive treatment, and patients who have prompt access to emergency dental services have a much-reduced risk of developing life-threatening sepsis. Dental teams are encouraged to use the following resources to update their knowledge on the latest national recommendations on the use of antimicrobial agents in dentistry, and to audit their practice:
Wendy is also the guest speaker on our upcoming ‘Talking Standards’ webinar on Thursday 25 November, which will be looking at Antimicrobial Prescribing in Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines. The event will be free to view live for all members of the dental professions, and CGDent members and ProDentalCPD subscribers can claim CPD hours for free and have access to the recording after the event. REGISTER HERE.
The College of General Dentistry is proud to be supporting Sugar Awareness Week, which aims to raise public awareness of the poor health outcomes associated with excess sugar consumption, get people talking about the importance of sugar reduction, and to encourage citizens, industry and government to support healthier food and drink.
The annual campaign is organised byAction on Sugar, a charity based at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at Queen Mary University of London, which works to promote a consensus for action to be taken to counter the harmful effects of a high sugar diet. Our support continues that previously given by the Faculty of General Dental Practice, and the two organisations were among those who successfully campaigned for a ‘sugar tax’ on soft drinks, which since its introduction in 2016 has seen a 29% reduction in the sugar content of drinks subject to the tax and a shift in purchasing towards lower sugar alternatives.
This year’s Sugar Awareness Week focusses on the high sugar content frequently seen in snack foods marketed as healthy, and also calls for the removal of misleading sugar claims on sweet baby and toddler snacks such as biscuits and rusks. We would encourage dental practices to display this year’s poster in their waiting area, to download and use the tailored images on their social media accounts, and to join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtags #SugarAwarenessWeek and #SnackingOnSugar.
The College’s work to support a reduction in sugar consumption is led by Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent, an associate dentist working in general dental practice in Surrey, and Vice President of the College, who represents CGDent on Public Health England’s Children’s Oral Health Improvement Programme Board. As a dental organisation, the College works with Action on Sugar to highlight the association between sugar consumption and poor oral health, and in supporting Sugar Awareness Week, Roshni commented:
“In the UK we consume three times the recommended maximum amount of sugar. Tooth decay is almost wholly preventable, but affects a quarter of 5-year-olds and a third of 12-year-olds, and tooth extraction is the number one reason young children are admitted to hospital. Reducing sugar intake lowers our risk not only of tooth decay, but of a wide range of illnesses including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke – and indirectly some cancers. Through education and regulatory action, consumers of all ages need to be empowered to make the healthy choices the easier ones.”
The Sugar Awareness Week 2021 resources can be downloaded below:
The latest issue of the Primary Dental Journal, Urgent dental care and COVID-19, is now online. In it, we reflect on dentistry’s response to a global healthcare challenge, with articles from colleagues around the world.
Research abstracts: Urgent dental care and COVID-19 (Ario Santini)
Dentists deployed: an insider’s perspectiveof life on the NHS front line (Harriet E Powell)
Provision of dental care by public health dental clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, Canada (Heidi Rabie, Rafael Figueiredo)
Understanding behaviourchange to promote regular dental attendance (Jessica Holloway)
Dental Emergencies: Perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of dental teams in the UK (Fiona Ellwood)
Delivering urgent oral healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: supporting sustainable local development (Rachael England, Andrew Paterson, Adam Jones)
Primary care research: views of a dental team on their experiences of a primary care study (Reem Al-Nashi Elia, Javed Ikram, Tim Clayton, Victor Chow, Emily Aldred, Kim Pilotille, Nichola Stones, Zhain Mustufvi)
CGDent members and PDJ subscribers should expect their printed copies to arrive in the next 2-3 weeks.
Researchers at Newcastle University are studying the prevalence of medical emergency events in primary dental care, and the confidence of the dental team in managing them.
The project is part of an NHS Health Education England North East research programme, and CGDent members are asked to support the research by giving a few minutes of their time to complete a short online questionnaire:
Participants should be a dentist, dental hygienist or dental therapist based in general dental practice, specialist practice or community dental services, and can enter a prize draw on completion to win a £50 Amazon voucher.
The new Chair of the General Dental Council (GDC) will make his first public address to the profession this week at an event celebrating the launch of the College of General Dentistry.
Lord Toby Harris, new GDC Chair
Lord Toby Harris, Baron Harris of Haringey, was appointed GDC Chair in July and took up office on 1 October, succeeding Dr William Moyes.
During his period of preparation for office, the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP) completed its long-planned separation from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, transferring into the new College of General Dentistry (CGDent).
Lord Harris will be the keynote speaker on Thursday evening (21st October) at a reception marking the birth of CGDent, the formation of which has realised the ultimate ambition of the FGDP’s founding members to establish an independent college for general dental practice.
The College assumed the Faculty’s remit on 1 August, and as well as publishing its guidance and standards, has already launched two postgraduate qualifications, offers membership benefits which promote and reward professional development, and has announced that it is developing a professional framework and career pathways for the whole dental team.
Speaking ahead of the event, Lord Harris said:
“The creation of a dedicated College – for the whole dental team – is a significant moment and I am really pleased to join in celebrating this. The College of General Dentistry is an important partner for the GDC in supporting our role assuring education standards and ensuring patient safety and confidence in the professions.”
His keynote speech on Thursday, following an address by CGDent President Abhi Pal, will be broadcast live online from 6.45pm at:
Print issues of the Primary Dental Journal (PDJ) being sent to members subscribers in European Union (EU) countries are now subject to import VAT at the domestic rate of the country in which you are located.
This is a result of recent EU legislation on cross-border e-commerce, which has removed the import VAT exemption threshold and changed the point of taxation from the supplier to the location of the consumer receiving the goods.
Our publisher, SAGE, will now be transporting your print issues of the PDJ into the EU and clearing them through customs.
CGDent will pay any VAT due, and no charge will be made to members/subscribers.
However, short term disruption is a possibility as postal services and customs authorities are reported to have had difficulty in understanding and applying the new rules.
If youreceive a payment notice to release your copy of PDJ from your local postal service, do not pay it– instead, please contact [email protected] for resolution/resupply.
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