Patricia Thomson FCGDent, former Council representative for North and West Scotland, reviews the College’s recent annual study day in Glasgow.
On Friday 5 December 2025, dental professionals from across Scotland and elsewhere met at Glasgow Science Centre for the CGDent Scotland Annual Study Day. This event was established at the founding of the former Faculty of General Dental Practitioners in 1992, and has been held in Glasgow annually since then, this being the fifteenth year that we have been hosted at the Science Centre.
Our main speaker was specialist periodontist Dr Ian Dunn FCGDent, whose series of lectures was titled ‘Passionate Perio for the Dental Team’. The final lecture, the annual Caldwell Memorial Lecture, was delivered by Professor Jim McCaul, lead maxillofacial surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, on ‘Oral Cancer, what you need to know and what you need to do’.
Over 400 delegates joined us for the day, 361 in person and a further cohort online. The
numbers comprised dentists of all levels of experience, many of whom are regular attenders, 87 final year BDS students from Glasgow and Dundee Universities, 113 Vocational Dental Practitioners, and gratifyingly, approximately 30 Dental Hygienists/Therapists.
In addition, we were joined by 12 fourth year BDS student volunteers who assisted with
registration and scanning of delegates into each lecture. We were very grateful for their
assistance, and they reported that they had all enjoyed the day thoroughly and looked forward to being in the audience at the 2026 Study Day.
We were delighted to host Dr Gillian Leslie, who had been recently appointed the new Chief Dental Officer for Scotland; warm congratulations were conveyed to her by our delegates who were enthusiastic at the prospect of a general dental practitioner having been selected for the role.
Also present was Thomas Lamont, Associate Postgraduate Dean for Workforce Development at NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Thomas has been working to create collaboration between NES, the Royal Colleges in Scotland and CGDent Scotland to better support our colleagues in the first five years in practice, and we were gratified that he attended the day to witness and support our community of practice.
Other esteemed guests included Professor Aileen Bell, Dean of Glasgow Dental School, and Billy Cameron, Assistant Postgraduate Dean for Vocational Training, both of whom have been strong proponents of CGDent Scotland.
The day started at 8am when we welcomed the first delegates with hot drinks and breakfast rolls. The early start presents the opportunity for delegates to visit the stands of our sponsors, who collectively allow us to deliver the day on this ambitious scale. As usual, I would like to reiterate our gratitude for their continuing financial contribution, as well as their enthusiasm and good humour, allowing us to deliver a successful and enjoyable day for the entire team. The exhibitors’ hall runs throughout the day, and we incorporate lengthy breaks between lectures to access the various trade stands as well as networking with colleagues and enjoying refreshments and lunch.
Once again, we welcomed Prof John Gibson, Emeritus Professor of Oral Medicine at Aberdeen University and winner of the CGDent President’s Award in 2024. John now devotes his time to running his charity, The Canmore Trust, which is dedicated to suicide prevention and postvention, and he and his wife Isobel remained with us throughout the day, manning their stand and enjoying social interaction with delegates.
In response to feedback, we opted to keep all students in the lecture theatre for the entire
programme this year rather than removing them for a separate session in the afternoon. This proved very successful, and we feel that this has been a positive development to engender inclusivity, and introduce them to the community of practice that the College is endeavouring to foster.
It was with some trepidation that the organising committee elected to have most of the
day devoted to periodontics. I am a part-time Teaching Fellow at Glasgow Dental School, and when I informed the final year students that the study day was going to consist of three perio lectures, they were not too impressed. However, I assured them that Ian Dunn is a superbly entertaining speaker with a deep passion for his subject, and that their apprehension was ill-founded. It was immensely gratifying to receive their overwhelmingly positive feedback the following week.
Ian used his warm Liverpool humour to guide the delegates through the concepts of disease aetiology and risk factors, and the S3 guidance with particular reference to the integration of the guidance into the SDR (the Scottish NHS payment system). He also discussed instrumentation and the use of antimicrobials, and he particularly emphasised the methods of patient motivation and the power of the oral hygiene phase. Ian had many amusing patient interaction anecdotes such as: “Madam, do you want a longer tooth, or a tooth no longer?”; and “would you wash your dirty car by rinsing it with a bucket of water and expect it to be clean?”. Apologies to Ian if I have not quite captured the essence of the messages. I did notice that many delegates brought out their phones to take note of these interesting motivational analogies to reuse when they returned to practice. I also have to acknowledge his persistence in repeating his patients’ mispronunciation “Cordosyl” throughout the entire day.
The feedback for Ian’s lecture set was absolutely superb, and many commented that they
could not believe that he held their attention for such a long period on the subject of
periodontology, several expressing a new enthusiasm for the topic.
We then received Professor McCaul’s Caldwell Memorial Lecture, Jim previously worked at Bradford Teaching Hospitals and the Royal Marsden Hospital, and his unit in Glasgow has one of the highest throughput of head and neck cancer and facial trauma cases in the world. He holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology, continues to work on clinical research for head and neck cancer, and is on the editorial board of numerous international medical research journals.
He was delighted to have access to our large group of dental professionals to deliver his
message. His opening comment was that we should refer to him anything that raises suspicion of cancer. He assured us that we will not be considered time wasters if the referral results in a diagnosis of lichen planus, recurrent ulceration or any other benign condition, as he is delighted that nineteen times out of twenty he can deliver good news to patients. Rather, he was concerned that when the one out of twenty referrals that is a cancer diagnosis does not reach him at an early stage, the outcome becomes much more bleak.
He proceeded to use a combination of pictures and video to demonstrate the hugely invasive procedures that these cases undergo, but also showing that faces can be put back together again, and that patients can resume their altered lives if the surgery is successful. It was immensely reassuring to note that a person who carries out this level and complexity of surgery can establish a close bond with the patient and cares deeply about the outcome for the individual. Jim went on to discuss the disturbing fact that the incidence of head and neck cancer is rising significantly among the female population, and it is unrelated to the former recognised risk factors. Work is ongoing to establish a cause.
Jim also discussed the use of immunomodulation therapy, but he was wary to offer any
certainty at this moment, as it appears to have some promise in a specific number of
individuals, but not all.
The room was completely enraptured by Prof McCaul’s presentation, and again we received wonderful feedback; especially noted was the confidence to refer any suspicion of cancer to Jim’s department without fear of time wasting, and I would strongly encourage general dental colleagues across the UK to adopt the same approach.
We consider that we had two outstanding presenters this year, as confirmed by feedback,
and we are indebted to them for coming to Glasgow to make the day such a success.
The day ended with our drinks reception, where the delegates mingled with colleagues, the dental trade, other stakeholders, and our speakers. The day concluded at 7pm with a huge sigh of relief from the organising team, including our superb events coordinator, Patricia de Vries.
We will endeavour to replicate the success of this day in December 2026, when the day will be devoted to digital dentistry.
Our speakers then will be: Dr Noland Naidoo, a prosthodontist and endodontist, originally from South Africa, who has worked in the UCL Eastman Dental Institute and Edinburgh Dental Institute, and who has an interest in dental technologies and biomaterials; Professor Murali Srinivasan, a specialist prosthodontist from Zurich University whose current research focus is among, other things, the clinical application of CAD-CAM technology in removable prosthodontics: Professor Gerry McKenna FCGDent, Consultant in Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry at Queen’s University Belfast; and Dr Helen Kaney FCGDent, Head of Dental Division at MDDUS .
We hope that our programme next year will attract a number of Dental Technicians and Clinical Dental Technicians, as well as the entire dental team, and that College members and others from across the UK will consider joining us as the organising committee endeavours to make the day as worthwhile, relevant and enjoyable as ever.
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