Standards & guidance

We set the authoritative standards and guidance for general dental practice, promoting high-quality practice and patient care:

Supporting excellence throughout the profession, our evidence-based Standards and Guidance are a respected resource for the whole dental team.

Digital copies are available here for registered users.
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In our Talking Standards webinar series, free to view live, the experts discuss key areas from our guidance and answer your questions. Scroll down to see what’s coming soon or visit our events page.

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An introduction to research for primary dental care clinicians

An Introduction to Research for Primary Dental Care Clinicians introduces the principles of research methodology, discusses the relevance of research to primary dental care, and provides an overview of the different stages in a research project.

Antimicrobial prescribing in dentistry

Antimicrobial Prescribing in Dentistry gives clear, simple and practical guidance to dentists on when to prescribe antimicrobials, what to prescribe, for how long and at what dosage.

Our printable one-page summary of the guidance, Chairside synopsis for common conditions, which summarises recommendations applicable for adult patients, is available for all dental professionals and practices to download.

The Antimicrobial Prescribing Self-Audit Tool, co-published with the British Dental Association and endorsed by Public Health England, helps dental prescribers to complete a clinical audit of their antimicrobial prescribing and management of dental infections, and to compare audited practice against the guidance.

Further resources are available in the Dental Antimicrobial Stewardship Toolkit, which was developed by the FGDP(UK), the British Dental Association and the Dental Sub-Group of Public Health England’s English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR).

Clinical examination and record-keeping 

Clinical Examination and Record-Keeping is a complete reference guide to record-keeping and examination, including history-taking, consent, confidentiality, data protection and more.

Dementia-friendly dentistry 

Dementia-Friendly Dentistry enables dental professionals to understand dementia and its implications for dental practice, and adapt their patient management and clinical decisions accordingly.

Guidance notes for dental practitioners on the safe use of X-ray equipment

Sets standards for the safe use of x-ray equipment within dental practice in line with the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR17) and Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 (IRMER17).

Implications of COVID-19 for the safe management of general dental practice

Our COVID-19 guidance supports dental professionals to take a risk-based, evidence-based approach to providing safe general dental care, and looking after team wellbeing, in the current circumstances.

Mentoring in implant dentistry

Mentoring in Implant Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines describes the nature of mentoring which should be undertaken in order to safely carry out implant dentistry following completion of an appropriate training course, and complements Training Standards in Implant Dentistry.

Selection criteria for dental radiography

Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography is the leading guideline on indications for radiographic investigation, covering treatment planning and monitoring, ionising radiation regulations and best practice.

Standards in dentistry 

Standards in Dentistry is a comprehensive collection of standards and guidelines for primary dental care.

Training standards in implant dentistry 

Training Standards in Implant Dentistry summarises the training that should be undertaken to carry out implant dentistry safely, and the standards which should be met by training courses. It should be read in conjunction with Mentoring in Implant Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines.

Latest

College publishes new national guidelines on implant dentistry mentoring

The College of General Dentistry has published new guidelines on mentoring in implant dentistry. Mentoring in Implant Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines describes the nature of mentoring which should be undertaken in order to safely carry out implant dentistry following completion of an appropriate training course, including: the experience, skills and qualities expected of a mentorthe experience, skills and qualities expected of a menteethe mentoring processthe mentoring agreement Providing practical help…

CGDent endorses updated guidance on anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs

The College of General Dentistry has endorsed newly updated guidance on anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs from the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme. The second edition of Management of Dental Patients Taking Anticoagulants or Antiplatelet Drugs provides clear and practical recommendations…

How to read a paper properly

Recorded webinar, Wednesday 28 September 2022 This lunch and learn webinar is the first in the College’s Research and Critical Appraisal of Evidence series of webinars. The aim of this first webinar is to help you understand how to critically…

Dementia-friendly dentistry

Recorded webinar, Thursday 19 May 2022 Part of our ‘Talking Standards’ series, which sets out to examine areas covered by our evidence-based standards and guidance, this webinar explores Dementia-Friendly Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines.   The recorded webinar is free to view for CGDent…

Safe use of x-ray equipment

Recorded webinar. Thursday 17 February 2022, 7pm CGDent members and ProDental subscribers have free access to the recorded webinar and can claim CPD hours for free.  A £20 fee will apply for non-members/non-subscribers who wish to claim CPD. watch webinar This…

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