The College has announced that Martin Kelleher FCGDent will be delivering the inaugural College Lecture on 13 June 2025.
‘Satisficing’ standards in dentistry: Who decides? Who benefits? will challenge the notion of the ‘ideal treatment plan’ and contend that subconscious bias and possible self-interests can lead some supposed experts to confuse their version of a questionable ‘gold standard’ with what is really in a patient’s overall best interests and with what the law expects.
Intended to stimulate and provoke healthy debate, the lecture will build on the rich legacy of the Malcolm Pendlebury Lectures hosted by the College’s predecessor organisation, the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP).
Martin Kelleher has been a Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at King’s College Hospital, London since 1984 and has well- known interests in solving seemingly complex dental problems with various minimally destructive approaches. He is on the GDC specialist lists for Restorative Dentistry and Prosthodontics and owned his own practice in Bromley, Kent for nearly 40 years.
He is a Fellow of the Faculties of Dental Surgery at the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England, as well as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He is also a Fellow of the College of General Dentistry, a Fellow and former President of the British Society for Restorative Dentistry, and a former Chairman of the Southern Counties Branch of the British Dental Association.
Mr Kelleher graduated from University College Dublin in 1971, holds a Master’s degree in Conservative Dentistry and is the author or co-author of very numerous peer-reviewed articles on a wide variety of topics, as well as chapters in dental textbooks and a book on dental bleaching. He served on the board of Dental Protection for a decade, including three years as Chair of its Advisory Committee for Dental Claims. He is a renowned speaker, having lectured to many national dental associations and specialist societies as well as internationally for over 40 years.
The inaugural College of General Dentistry Lecture will take place in the historic Cutlers’ Hall in Sheffield, and will be followed by the College’s Summer Reception. CPD certificates will be provided.
All dental professionals, and others with professional interests in contemporary dental practice, are eligible to attend both events. Discounted places are available to College members.
To secure your place at current ‘Early Bird’ rates, click the button below:
Eligible members will receive the candidates’ election statements, with instructions on how to vote, when voting opens on Wednesday 26 March 2025. These will be sent by the College’s election services provider, Mi-Voice, to the email address which the member has registered with the College. Members will then have until Friday 2 May 2025 to cast their vote(s).
The College is looking for a Membership Manager to join its staff team.
The post-holder will oversee and deliver the College’s membership administration and support function. Dealing directly with our dental professional members and subscribers, they will assess sometimes complex applications, manage member queries and oversee membership subscriptions. They will also be required to confidently use and interrogate the College’s CRM database and payment platforms to support these processes.
The College is a small team, and so the role will be varied and dynamic, with the opportunity to help improve and build our processes as we grow as an organisation. We are looking for someone who is quick to learn, organised and who has excellent attention to detail.
You will need to have drive and a passion for process excellence and improvement. You will need to be able to think logically, and proactively deal with some complex information and situations related to membership and other applications. The role will therefore suit someone who is interested in thinking beyond the issue at hand and who will proactively problem solve, and advise on process improvement.
Previous experience in using and interrogating a CRM database is essential, and experience in a membership role is preferred. The role is full-time and hybrid (but predominantly home-based). Full details are available in the role description below.
The College is seeking a new board member for its Faculty of Dental Technology and Clinical Dental Technology, and all dental technicians and clinical dental technicians are invited to apply.
The Faculty of Dental Technology and Clinical Dental Technology is a constituency of the College automatically comprising all members who are dental technicians or clinical dental technicians. Advising and reporting to the elected College Council, the Faculty Board advances the interests of these members within the College as a discrete professional group.
Faculty Board members are appointed for renewable three-year terms, and the appointee will be expected to attend at least three Faculty Board meetings per year from June 2025 – June 2028.
Candidates will need to be an Associate Member, Full Member, Associate Fellow or Fellow of the College at the time of application, and anyone interested in applying who is not yet a member of the College is advised to allow at least two weeks for their membership application to be fully processed prior to applying for this role.
The role is voluntary, with any essential expenses covered. A role profile is available below.
Applications should be made by email, headed “Board member (Faculty of Dental Technology and Clinical Dental Technology)”, to [email protected], attaching a CV and covering letter addressing the person specification.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 4 May 2025.
The College is seeking the next Chair of the Board of its Faculty of Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy, and all dental hygienists and dental therapists are invited to consider applying.
The Faculty of Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy is a constituency of the College automatically comprising all members who are dental hygienists or dental therapists. The interests of these members as a discrete professional group are advanced within the College by both a voting representative on the elected College Council and by a Faculty Board which advises and reports to Council.
Membership of the Faculty Board is appointed by Council, including the Chair, who works closely with the President and other Faculty Board Chairs in realising College priorities.
The Chair will be appointed for a non-renewable three-year term from June 2025 – June 2028, during which they will be expected to attend the three formal meetings of Council each year, and to coordinate at least three meetings of their Faculty Board annually with these dates. Council holds full day hybrid meetings, with attendance in person preferred.
Candidates will need to be an Associate Member, Full Member, Associate Fellow or Fellow of the College at the time of application, and anyone interested in applying who is not yet a member of the College is advised to allow at least two weeks for their membership application to be fully processed prior to applying for this role.
The role is voluntary, with essential expenses covered. A role profile is available below.
Applications should be made by email, headed “Board Chair (Faculty of Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy)”, to [email protected], attaching a CV and covering letter addressing the person specification.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 4 May 2025.
Interviews will be held online from the week beginning 12 May (tbc) with a selection panel convened by Council, and the appointee should be available to attend the College Council meeting on Friday 13 June 2025.
If you have questions or would like a confidential discussion about the role, please contact Simon Thornton-Wood PhD, Chief Executive of the College, at [email protected]
The College has expanded eligibility to join its 1992 Circle to all fully retired members.
Cutler’s Hall, London; venue for the next 1992 Circle gathering
Created shortly after the inception of the College, the 1992 Circle initially brought together a dedicated group of retired College Fellows and past Fellows of the Faculty of General Dental Practice with a shared enthusiasm for the work of the College.
The group is named in honour of the year the FGDP(UK) was founded, a key moment which brought together the members of the College of General Dental Practitioners (UK) and the former RCS Advisory Board in General Dental Practice with the shared ambition to create an independent College over time.
More than 30 years later, the 1992 Circle celebrates the vision of those who put the general dental profession in the UK on a journey towards independent collegiate status. Bringing the benefit of our members’ significant experience to the work of the College today, the Circle promotes their continued standing in the profession in retirement and creates a sociable network of like-minded individuals.
Since its formation, the 1992 Circle has since held a series of gatherings prior to the College’s biannual Fellows’ Receptions, and its members have been involved in recording the histories of the formation of the FGDP and of FGDP qualifications, and in raising funds to secure the College’s Coat of Arms. The Circle has also fed into discussions on the ambitions and priorities for the future development of the College.
The College is now building on this by extending Circle membership to all fully retired members, with the aim of fostering continued close connections with and between our whole retired community.
Retired members enjoy the same benefits, rights and privileges of the College as practising members, but enjoy a fee discount of up to 66% from their next renewal – and there is no additional charge for membership of the 1992 Circle.
Circle members receive special invitations to College events, as well as periodic updates from its Convenor, Sir Nairn Wilson CBE, and information on the events and activities of the Lindsay Society for the History of Dentistry.
All members of the College who are already fully retired from practice have now been enrolled in the 1992 Circle, and College members who are currently in practice will be enrolled once fully retired.
Members of the 1992 Circle are invited, for their Winter 2025 gathering – the first since the expansion in membership – to attend a special reception marking the 50th issue of the Primary Dental Journal. This takes place on the afternoon of Thursday 30 January 2025 in London. There is no charge for this event, but prior registration via the button below is requested.
Circle members are also invited to join the online Annual Members’ Meeting on 4 March 2025, and will soon be invited to the inaugural College Lecture and the Fellows’ Summer Reception in Sheffield on 13 June 2025. Details will be circulated soon, and interest will also be gauged in holding a 1992 Circle Lunch the same day.
Friday 9 – Saturday 10 October 2026, 9.00am – 5.00pm, London
Hall N2, ExCeL London, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL
The College invites all dental professionals to visit its exhibition stand at Dentistry Show London 2026.
College members and non-members alike are encouraged to come and introduce themselves, to find out more about the College and have their queries answered.
Perhaps you have questions about your membership or how to access your benefits? Or want to know whether you’re eligible for Full Membership, Associate Fellowship or Fellowship? Or you wonder what Life Fellowship is, our Certified Practitioner status or how to add your qualifications to the Member Register?
Maybe you’re a former member of FGDP(UK) uncertain of your College status, or the correct way to present your Faculty post-nominals?
Or perhaps you’re a non-member who’s not yet heard much about the College and just wants to find out why we were set up, what our plans are or how we can help you in your career?
Whatever your query, senior College members and staff will be there throughout the conference to help you out, and have live access to College systems to help solve membership queries on the spot.
Or even if you don’t have a query, we’d be delighted to meet you!
The College will also be an education partner for the show, hosting CPD lectures.
Dentistry Show London gives you access to over 180 exhibitors and 4,000 fellow dental professionals, and offers over 100 CPD lectures in all. It’s FREE to attend for all registered dental professionals.
A registration link will be added below once registration is open.
Dr Patricia Thomson FCGDent (l), winner of the 2026 College Medal (r)
The Livery Hall, Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4M 7BR
The 2026 College Medal, the College’s most prestigious honour, will be awarded to Dr Patricia Thomson FCGDent.
Reserved for no more than one recipient per year, the College Medal is awarded for exceptional service to the dental profession and its patients in a manner aligned with the values and mission of the College. Dr Thomson has received the award in recognition of her wholehearted commitment to the profession, and her longstanding service to CGDent and previously to the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP), both nationally and in the west of Scotland.
Since graduating from Glasgow Dental School in 1983 until her retirement from practice this year, Dr Thomson amassed 43 years’ unbroken service as a general dental practitioner. Principal of a mixed NHS-and-private practice for over 30 years, she assisted the Vocational Dental Practitioners in her practice for over 20 of these, also nurturing the careers of many Dental Care Professionals, associate dentists and non-clinical staff. In recent years, she practised as a part-time associate dentist, and she continues to teach undergraduates as a part-time Clinical Teaching Fellow in the restorative department at the University of Glasgow.
Heavily involved for more than two decades in the highly active West of Scotland division of the former FGDP, she tutored numerous colleagues for entry exams for the Royal Colleges and presented teaching sessions on orthodontics to vocational trainees. Elected in 2016 to represent the West and North of Scotland on the national FGDP Board, she was re-elected in 2019 and transferred to the College Council when CGDent succeeded the FGDP.
In 2021, she led the establishment of CGDent Scotland to succeed the West of Scotland division, and has since continued her involvement both in the study groups and in planning the annual study days, which have been running since 1992 and now regularly attract over 400 colleagues.
She was appointed the first Chair of the College’s Regional Funding Panel and was elected Vice-President of the College in 2022. She served a second term as Vice-President in 2023-24, and was re-elected to the Council in 2024 before standing down in 2025 after completing the maximum permitted nine years’ service. She continues to represent the College as its nominee on the NHS Education for Scotland Dental Committee, a role she has held for many years.
With a longstanding interest in orthodontics, she spent three years on a part-time clinical attachment in Glasgow Dental School’s orthodontic department, training in fixed appliance therapy, and later completed an MSc in Primary Dental Care (Dental Science) with an interest in orthodontics, achieving a distinction.
She also holds the Diploma of Membership of the Joint Dental Faculties of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (MJDF) and the Diploma of Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (MFDS), and is a Fellow of the International College of Dentists and a Past President of the West of Scotland branch of the British Dental Association.
The presentation of the College Medal, to be made by the President of the College, Dr Roshni Karia, will be incorporated within the Fellows’ Summer Reception, and will take place in front of gathered Fellows and Associate Fellows of the College.
The Fellows’ Summer Reception is an opportunity for dental professionals to network with their peers, as well as to meet College Trustees and members of the College Council and Faculty Boards.
The event is open to all members of the College’s Fellowship community (Associate Fellows and Fellows), as well as members of the College’s Board of Trustees, Council and Faculty Boards.
Early Bird rate (until 31 May 2026)
Standard rate (from 1 June 2026)
Associate Fellow or Fellow
£55
£65
Admitting Associate Fellow, Role Fellow or Fellow
£0
£20
Guest of admitting Associate Fellow, Role Fellow or Fellow
£55
£65
Associate Fellows who have not previously been formally presented, and recent Fellows expecting to be ceremonially admitted, can book their place at the reception free of charge during the ‘early bird’ period. All those admitting may bring a guest; guest tickets are chargeable at the standard rate.
Please note that this event usually sells out ahead of time, so early booking is advised.
Non-members or existing members applying for Associate Fellowship, Role Fellowship or Fellowship and who wish to be ceremonially admitted at the Summer Reception are advised to submit their applications as soon as possible in order to allow enough time for admissions procedures to be completed.
Information on eligibility for Associate Fellowship and Fellowship and is available here
Professor Sreenivas Koka FCGDent being ceremonially admitted into Fellowship by College President Dr Roshni Karia
The Livery Hall, Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4M 7BR
Fellows and Associate Fellows who have not previously been formally presented are invited to be ceremonially admitted into our Fellowship community by the President of the College, Dr Roshni Karia.
The presentations will be incorporated within the Fellows’ Summer Reception, and will take place in front of gathered Fellows and Associate Fellows of the College.
This is the first opportunity for those in six new Fellowship categories to be presented, and any Fellows in Dental Nursing, Fellows in Orthodontic Therapy, Fellows in Dental Hygiene, Fellows in Dental Therapy, Fellows in Dental Technology and Fellows in Clinical Dental Technology attending the Fellows’ Summer Reception will be ceremonially admitted.
It is also just the third opportunity for Associate Fellows to be presented, and all Associate Fellows attending the Fellows’ Summer Reception who have not previously been presented will be ceremonially admitted.
New Fellows, and any College Fellow attending the Fellows’ Summer Reception who has neither been ceremonially admitted at a previous College Fellows’ Reception nor had their fellowship of the former FGDP(UK) conferred at a Diplomates’ Day will be ceremonially admitted.
Photographs of each presenting Fellow, Role Fellow and Associate Fellow being ceremonially admitted by the President will be made available shortly afterwards to download free of charge.
The Fellows’ Summer Reception is an opportunity for dental professionals to network with their peers, as well as to meet College Trustees and members of the College Council and Faculty Boards.
Tickets for those being presented for ceremonial admission are free of charge if booked during the early bird period.
The date at which ‘early bird’ rates will cease to apply is yet to be confirmed.
All those being ceremonially admitted may bring a guest; guest tickets are chargeable at the standard rate, currently £55.
Please note that this event usually reaches capacity ahead of time, so early booking is in any rate advised.
Non-members or existing members applying for Associate Fellowship, Role Fellowship or Fellowship and who wished to be ceremonially admitted at the Summer Reception are advised to submit their applications as soon as possible in order to allow enough time for admissions procedures to be completed.
Information on eligibility for Associate Fellowship (AssocFCGDent), Role Fellowship and Fellowship (FCGDent) and is available here
The Livery Hall, Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4M 7BR
The fifth annual College of General Dentistry Fellows’ Summer Reception will take place on the evening of Thursday 25 June 2026 in the historic Cutlers’ Hall in London.
The event is an opportunity to network with peers over drinks and canapés, as well as to meet College Trustees and members of the College Council and Faculty Boards.
The event is open to all members of the College’s Fellowship community (Associate Fellows and Fellows), as well as members of the College’s Board of Trustees, Council and Faculty Boards.
Early Bird rate (until 31 May 2026)
Standard rate (from 1 June 2026)
Associate Fellow or Fellow
£55
£65
Admitting Associate Fellow, Role Fellow or Fellow
£0
£20
Guest of admitting Associate Fellow, Role Fellow or Fellow
£55
£65
Associate Fellows who have not previously been formally presented, and recent Fellows expecting to be ceremonially admitted, can book their place at the reception free of charge during the ‘early bird’ period. All those admitting may bring a guest; guest tickets are chargeable at the standard rate.
‘Early bird’ rates end on Sunday 31 May 2026.
Please note that this event usually sells out ahead of time, so early booking is advised.
Non-members or existing members applying for Associate Fellowship, Role Fellowship or Fellowship and who wished to be ceremonially admitted at the Summer Reception are advised to submit their applications as soon as possible in order to allow enough time for admissions procedures to be completed.
Information on eligibility for Associate Fellowship (AssocFCGDent), Role Fellowship and Fellowship (FCGDent) and is available here
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
PHPSESSID
session
This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
wordpress_test_cookie
session
This cookie is used to check if the cookies are enabled on the users' browser.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
