Dental leaders discuss professional development and career support

Senior College members took part in a recent meeting of dental leaders from across the UK to share learning on how best to support the careers and professional development of the future dental team.

College panellists, speakers and presenters at the Dental Leadership Network: (l-r) Roshni Karia, Manish Prasad, Ewen McColl and Catherine Rutland

Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent (President of the College) and Dr Manish Prasad FCGDent (Clinical Director at MyDentist and a CGDent Certified Membership Facilitator) both participated in a panel discussion on the question of How do we align the needs of the sector with the expectations of new dental professionals?’.

Dr Karia, who was previously an early careers observer on the board of the former Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP) and more recently was a member of the College’s Career Pathways Programme Board, noted that new dental professionals are looking for support and guidance to enable them to have fulfilling careers offering flexibility, a sustainable work-life balance and opportunities for growth and recognition. She added that the College is in the process of developing structured pathways for all members of the dental team which will align these desires with the needs of the sector by recognising appropriate education, experience and skills acquisition at each career stage.

Professor Ewen McColl FCGDent (Chair of the Dental Schools Council, member of the College Council and Editor of the College’s Standards in Dentistry publication) gave a presentation on “How do we prepare BDS students for practice?” and took part in a panel discussion on “Ensuring development opportunities that meet the needs of  individual dental professionals“.

The sessions took place at the most recent ‘Dental Leadership Network’ day convened by the General Dental Council to facilitate shared ownership in addressing key challenges facing the profession.

Dr Catherine Rutland FCGDent (Clinical Director at Denplan) closed the event, and was also a facilitator of the final workshop session alongside Fiona Ellwood BEM (Executive Director of the Society of British Dental Nurses, Associate Member of the College and former Honorary Fellow of the FGDP).

Other attendees included Professor Avijit Banerjee FCGDent (Chair of the College’s Faculty of Dentists), Dr Debbie Reed FCGDent (Chair of the College’s Faculty of Dental Nursing & Orthodontic Therapy), Bill Sharpling FCGDent (Chair of the College’s Faculty of Clinical Dental Technology & Dental Technology), and College Council members Helen Kaney FCGDent and Miranda Steeples AssocFCGDent.

Held in London on 25 March on the theme of Future dental team: their expectations, development and career’, the event followed a previous meeting on workforce challenges involving Dr Abhi Pal FCGDent (then President of the College), Dr Debbie Reed FCGDent, Dr Catherine Tannahill MCGDent (Director of Clinician Engagement of Portman Dental) and Ashley Byrne FCGDent (Board Member of the Dental Laboratories Association). 

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Dental professionals invited to College Summer Reception

The College has issued an open invitation to all College members and other dental professionals to attend its 2025 Summer Reception.

The Summer Reception, incorporating the fourth annual College Fellows’ Summer Reception, will be an opportunity to network with your peers in the grand surroundings of the historic Cutlers’ Hall, and all dental professionals and those with professional interests in contemporary dentistry are invited to attend, with discounted tickets available to College members.

The event will include the ceremonial admission of new Fellows, and for the first time also Associate Fellows of the College. The President’s Award, typically given for charitable endeavours related to dentistry, will also be presented during the Reception, and this year’s winner of the prestigious College Medal is also expected to be announced. Photographs of the event will be made available to attendees shortly afterwards to download free of charge.

The College Summer Reception takes place from 5pm to 8pm on Friday 13 June in Sheffield, with registration open from 4.30pm.

It will be preceded from 2pm by the Inaugural College of General Dentistry Lecture, to be delivered by Martin Kelleher FCGDent, Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at King’s College Dental Hospital. Intended to stimulate and provoke healthy debate, this 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. This is also open to all dental professionals to attend, and CPD certificates will be provided.

Tickets are available for the reception only, lecture only, or combined lecture and reception. ‘Early Bird’ rates currently apply.

To secure your place, click the button below:

For further information, visit the College’s events pages.

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New PDJ online: Implant dentistry (part two)

The new issue of the Primary Dental Journal, ‘Implant dentistry (part two)’, is now available to view online.

While Implant Dentistry (part one) covered the roles of dental team members in managing implant patients within dental primary care, this part 2 issue focusses on clinical aspects of implant dentistry, including complications and adverse events, and recent technological advancements in the field, providing strategies for dental professionals.

The issue’s Guest Editor is Professor Ilser Turkyilmaz, Associate Dean of Digital Innovation, Professor and Chair at USA Case Western Reserve University’s School of Dental Medicine. Professor Turkyilmaz explains the thinking behind the collection of topics in the part 2 issue:

“As we continue to advance in the field of implant dentistry, clinicians face an ongoing challenge to adopt and incorporate modern tools and materials that elevate the quality of patient care while simultaneously reducing the complexity of their workflows. Our goal with this issue is to enrich the knowledge base of both new and experienced practitioners, empowering them to achieve optimal patient outcomes…in the dynamic field of implant dentistry.”

Papers included in this issue cover a range of digital and analogue workflows, with the core emphasis on the importance of thorough treatment planning, reinforced by advanced imaging techniques. A full list is below.

Full online access to the majority of articles is reserved for College of General Dentistry members and Primary Dental Journal subscribers, who can also expect their printed copies to arrive around the end of January. New joiners wishing to receive a copy of this issue can let us know by emailing [email protected]

For non-members / non-subscribers, at least one paper in each issue is made available online free of charge, with all other articles available to purchase via the links below.

An annual print subscription to the PDJ is included with membership of the College, which also includes online access to over 1,500 current and past articles in the PDJ Library and a range of other benefits.

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 this issue.

ISSUE CONTENTS:

CGDent members can view full articles by logging in via the yellow button below, then clicking ‘Access the PDJ Library’:

An earlier version of this article was published on 26 December 2024. The next issue of the journal, General Dentistry, is due out in Spring 2025.

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Nominations open for Council elections

Nominations are now open for elections to six seats on the College Council, and all Full Members, Associate Fellows and Fellows of the College are invited to nominate themselves as candidates.

Nominations are sought for the following seats:

  • East of Scotland
  • National representative
  • Overseas representative
  • South East & South West Thames
  • Wessex & Oxford
  • West & North of Scotland

Candidates for regional seats must live or work within that region, and be registered with that region with CGDent. Candidates for the National seat must live or work in the UK, and have a registered UK address with CGDent. Candidates for the Overseas seat must practice dentistry wholly outside the UK, and have a registered overseas address with CGDent.

All eligible members as at 16 January 2025 have been emailed a link to the nominations website by the College’s election services provider, Mi-Voice. If you are interested in standing for election, you will need to complete the nomination process via that link, where you will be asked for further information, the names of two supporting members, and to submit an election statement.

Members may stand simultaneously for both the National seat and the regional seat for which they are eligible (if applicable) by submitting a separate nomination form for each seat.

Further information on the role, nomination requirements and the election timetable can be found via the button below.

The deadline for receipt of nominations is Sunday 16 February 2025.

If you think you might like to put yourself forward as a candidate and would like further information before deciding, we would be pleased to have a confidential discussion and to answer any questions you may have about the role and the process. Please get in touch via [email protected]

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Parliamentary briefing on preventative oral healthcare

Earlier this week, the College and Haleon presented The Dental Health Barometer – the organisations’ joint report on improving the provision of preventative oral healthcare – at a breakfast briefing held in Parliament.

Jon Elliott, Roshni Karia MCGDent, Simon Thornton-Wood PhD, Kate Fabrikant FCGDent

The meeting was one of a series of discussions being held with stakeholders to communicate and gather support for the recommendations identified in the report, which are based on the experience and insight of general dental professionals on how to bridge the gap between intentions and practical delivery of preventative care.

The research underlying the report included a survey of 2,000 UK dental patients and over 500 dental professionals which highlighted inconsistencies in the provision of preventative oral healthcare advice, and rich discussions held with 77 oral health professionals, in all dental team roles, in focus group meetings hosted at eight general dental practices throughout the UK.

Attendees at the meeting were:

  • Sadik Al-Hassan MP (Labour, North Somerset)
  • David Arnold (Director of Communications, Oral Health Foundation)
  • Lewis Atkinson MP (Labour, Sunderland Central)
  • Professor Avijit Banerjee FCGDent (Professor of Cariology & Operative Dentistry at King’s College London and Chair of the College’s Faculty of Dentists)
  • Jon Elliott (Head of Corporate Affairs for Northern Europe, Haleon)
  • Dr Kate Fabrikant FCGDent (Medical Affairs Director for Northern Europe, Haleon)
  • Dr Elizabeth Fisher (Programme Lead for Children and Young People’s, Nuffield Trust)
  • Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent (President of the College)
  • Professor Philip Preshaw (President, British Society of Periodontology)
  • Simon Thornton-Wood PhD (Chief Executive of the College)
  • Dr Jason Wong MBE FCGDent (Chief Dental Officer, NHS England)
  • Philip Worsfold (Head of Dental Public Health, Department of Health and Social Care)



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New PDJ online: Implant dentistry (part one)

The latest issue of the Primary Dental Journal, ‘Implant dentistry (part one)’, is available to view online now.

The implant dentistry theme has been split across two consecutive journal issues – parts 1 and 2. Papers in this part 1 issue include the role of the general dental practitioner in the care of the implant patient; dental nursing in implant dentistry; the hygienist’s role in the management of the implant patient in primary care; and dentolegal considerations in implant dentistry. The main objective of this first issue is to provide readers with a cutting-edge update on the topics, and to raise awareness of the need to manage implant patients in primary care.

The guest editor of this part 1 issue is Amin Aminian FCGDent, a Specialist in Prosthodontics in Greater Manchester. Amin explains the impetus for the collection of papers, and urges readers to share these Implant dentistry issues with all colleagues:

My aim…was to highlight how implant therapy can, and should, be predominantly provided in primary care. The articles highlight how implant dentistry can positively impact our patients’ quality of life, regardless of the care setting.

“I sincerely hope you enjoy the two implant dentistry issues. At the outset, they were intended for all members of the primary care team, be it those who have yet to begin their implant journey or those more experienced in all aspects of the treatment. The articles highlight the important role all members of the team need to play, with the patient central to the care plan.”

Part 2 – which is due out in winter and guest-edited by Professor Ilser Turkyilmaz of New York University – will have a greater focus on clinical aspects of implant dentistry, including complications and adverse events, and recent technological advancements in the field.

Full online access to the majority of articles is reserved for College of General Dentistry members and Primary Dental Journal subscribers, who can also expect their printed copies to arrive in the next 2–3 weeks.

For non-members / non-subscribers, at least one paper in each issue is made available online free of charge, with all other articles available to purchase via the links below.

An annual print subscription to the PDJ is included with membership of the College, which also includes online access to over 1,400 current and past issues in the PDJ Library and a range of other benefits.

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.

ISSUE CONTENTS:

CGDent members can view full articles by logging in via the yellow button below, then clicking ‘Access the PDJ Library’:

Implant Dentistry – a journey from the beginnings to what has become an established discipline

Igor Blum, Clinical Professor of Primary Care Dentistry and Advanced General Dental Practice at King’s College London and Editor of the Primary Dental Journal (PDJ), introduces two issues of the PDJ dedicated to implant dentistry

Modern implant dentistry begins with the pioneering work of Per-Ingvar Brånemark (1929-2014), professor of anatomy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and André Schroeder (1918-2004) professor of operative dentistry and endodontics at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Professor Brånemark studied bone healing and regeneration and discovered in 1957 that bone could grow in close proximity with titanium without being rejected, developing a permanent attachment between bone and titanium. He termed this phenomenon ‘osseointegration’. 

Osseointegration established a new era in dentistry and paved the way for the development of the principles of biological acceptance of implants based on the science of bone biology. The first patient receiving titanium dental implants was 34-year-old Gosta Larsson, a man with a cleft palate, jaw deformities and missing teeth in his lower jaw. In 1965 he had four titanium implants (fixtures) placed into his mandible which were restored with a fixed prosthesis. The dental implants served for more than 40 years, until the end of Mr Larsson’s life.1

Early histological evidence demonstrating dental implant osseointegration was published in 1976 by Professor André Schroeder. He then went on to develop improved dental implant designs, and in 1980 Professor Schroeder founded the International Team of Implantology (ITI) of which he was the founding president. The ITI evolved into the largest global organisation of Implant Dentistry today.

At the Toronto Conference on Osseointegration in Clinical Dentistry in 1982, Professor Brånemark gave his landmark presentation that convinced dentists that a new era had dawned for dental implants, which became rapidly adopted as a new method of root-shaped screws in the jaws.2 He is widely known as the ‘father of modern dental implantology’ because of his milestone contribution in the field of implant dentistry. In tandem with the pioneering work in dental implants, and following the recognition of long-term success of osseointegration, this work was extended to orthopaedics for small and large joint replacement.3

The introduction of the concept of osseointegration of implants resulted in a paradigm shift that affected the dental care of partially dentate and edentulous patients. Dental implants continued to evolve with research and innovation over decades resulting in the treatment planning involving the implant option becoming part of mainstream dentistry in the present day. The widespread use of dental implants requires dental professionals to be up to date with maintaining the implant patient, regardless of whether the dental practice is offering the provision of dental implants. It is therefore essential for dental professionals to have appropriate training and a sound clinical understanding in the care of and maintaining the implant patient.

Although not a substitute by any means for a quality assured clinical training programme or structured course, the editorial team felt it was timely to produce an issue of the Primary Dental Journal devoted to Implant Dentistry. This theme has been split across two consecutive issues of the journal – parts 1 and 2.

Part 1, our Autumn 2024 issue which will be published imminently, addresses the role of the general dental practitioner in the care of the implant patient, dental nursing in implant dentistry, the hygienist’s role in the management of the implant patient in primary care, developing implant mentoring programmes, a personal journey from mentee to mentor, biomechanical principles of restoring a dentition with dental implants, a technician’s perspective on communication in implant treatment planning, placement and reconstruction in the digital age, the impact of implants on quality of life, and, very importantly dentolegal considerations in implant dentistry. The main objective of part 1 issue is to provide readers with a cutting-edge update on the above topics, including raising awareness of the need to manage implant patients in primary care.

Part 2, the Winter 2024/25 issue to be published in around three months’ time, will focus more on clinical aspects of implant dentistry, including complications and adverse events, and recent technological advancements in the field.

Implant Dentistry is truly an evolving discipline as seen by the remarkable advances since the early works of Professors Brånemark, Schroeder and many others over the past decades. Those dental professionals wishing to further their knowledge and skills in implant dentistry and wishing to choose postgraduate educational programmes or courses might also benefit from familiarising themselves with the College of General Dentistry publications Mentoring in Implant Dentistry: Good Practice Guidelines and Training standards in implant dentistry. The former describes the nature of mentoring which should be undertaken in order to safely carry out implant dentistry following completion of an appropriate training course, while the latter helps with identifying quality postgraduate education in implant dentistry.

I am very thankful to Dr Amin Aminian and Professor Ilser Turkyilmaz, the guest editors respectively of our part 1 and part 2 issues on implant dentistry, and to all our contributing authors, for producing such a wealth of excellent and informative articles which I am certain readers will find of interest and use.

The Primary Dental Journal is the College’s quarterly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to general dental practice. Printed copies of the Autumn 2024 part 1 issue on implant dentistry should arrive with College members in the second half of October.

References

1 Lewin T. Per-Ingvar Brånemark, Dental Innovator, Dies at 85. The New York Times, Dec 27, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/health/per-ingvar-branemark-dental-innovator-dies-at-85.html

2Zarb G, editor. Toronto conference on osseointegration in clinical dentistry. In Proceedings of the 1982 Toronto Conference 1983 (pp. 1-165). Mosby: St. Louis

3Albrektsson T, Lekholm U. Osseointegration: current state of the art. Dent Clin North Am. 1989 Oct;33(4):537-54

Career barriers and breakthroughs: Navigating skill mix and progression for academic dental therapists and dental hygienists

Saturday 17 May 2025, 1.45pm-2.30pm, Birmingham

Enhanced CPD Theatre, Hall 5, National Exhibition Centre, North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT

This lecture will be delivered by Sarah Murray MBE (Reader in Dental Therapy Education and Academic Co-Lead for Quality Assurance at Queen Mary University of London, and Board Member of the College’s Faculty of Dental Hygiene and Therapy) and Leon Bassi (Clinical Lecturer in Restorative Dentistry [Dental Therapy] at the University of Liverpool). Both were members of the Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy Working Group which co-developed the College’s Professional Framework for Career Pathways in Dentistry

Free to attend for both members and non-members of the College, it is one of four College sessions at the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show 2025 (BDCDS25), a two-day conference hosting over 200 CPD lectures, 400 exhibitors and 10,000 dental professionals.

College representatives will be available throughout the conference at Stand Q01 to talk to delegates about our vision for the profession, the benefits of membership and fellowship, and to answer questions.

It is not possible to register for specific lectures in advance, but those wishing to attend need to register for BDCDS25 either in advance or on the day. Registration is free for all dental professionals.

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British Dental Conference & Dentistry Show

Friday 16 May (9am-5.30pm) & Saturday 17 May 2025 (9am-5pm)Birmingham

College lecturers at BDCDS25 (clockwise from bottom left): Leon Bassi, Dr Moira Duncan, Professor Chris Tredwin FCGDent, Sarah Murray MBE and Dr Abhi Pal FCGDent

Hall 5, National Exhibition Centre, North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT

The College will once again be a key education partner for the British Dental Conference & Dentistry Show (BDCDS), hosting four lectures in the Enhanced CPD Theatre during the two-day conference.

Members and non-members alike will be welcome to the College’s sessions, in which experts in their fields will share their knowledge and give advice on a range of subjects encompassing clinical dentistry and professionalism. Lectures include:

Friday 16 May:

Saturday 17 May:

College representatives will also be available throughout the conference at Stand Q01 to talk to delegates about our vision for the profession, the benefits of membership and fellowship, and to answer your questions.

BDCDS is the UK’s largest dental event, bringing together the whole dental team with 10,000 dental professionals gathering under one roof.

FREE to attend for all registered dental professionals, attendees can expect 200 CPD lectures across 11 theatres. Co-located with Dental Technology Showcase, it is also a great opportunity to meet new and existing suppliers, with 400 exhibitors on site, including all the industry leaders.

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The Dental Health Barometer – an oral health practitioner reflects

Frances Robinson AssocFCGDent, Advanced Oral Health Practitioner and Chair of the Board of the Faculty of Dental Hygiene & Dental Therapy, reflects on The Dental Health Barometer report on preventative oral healthcare, published by the College and Haleon.

The Dental Health Barometer report, stemming from a collaboration between the College of General Dentistry and Haleon, surveyed patients and dental professionals and more recently held focus groups with dental professionals throughout the UK. The report highlights inconsistencies in the provision of preventative oral healthcare and how this type of care is understood by both the dental population and the wider public.

Due to my roles as an Advanced Oral Health Practitioner in London and as Chair of the Board in the College’s Faculty of Dental Hygiene & Dental Therapy, this piece of research with Haleon, was particularly interesting to me. I currently lead a mixed team of dental professionals and admin support to provide an oral health promotion service, through an NHS trust, contracted by the local authority. In my borough the decay rate was 39.1% for five-years olds in 2019 – I have much work to do!

I can sense clinicians are frustrated when working at the coal face of primary care seeing so much decay and periodontal issues, but dental outreach teams, like mine, and the dental public health workforce, work tirelessly to address some of the points raised by clinicians in the report.

I would like to use this blog piece to highlight some of the key summary points raised in the CGDent-Haleon report that are directly related to my role and also to explain some of the work that goes on in oral health outreach teams.

What is the current picture of oral health?

23.4% of children in England had tooth decay in 2019, normally with three to four teeth affected (National Epidemiology Survey for England). Furthermore, tooth decay still persists and is the top reason for five to nine year old children to be admitted to hospital and given a general anaesthetic. In 2022, the prevalence of the tooth decay in more deprived areas was 35% compared to 13.5% in the most affluent.

For adults, the last adult oral health survey showed 41% of people in deprived neighbourhoods had dental pain, compared with 25% of those in the least deprived neighbourhoods. Furthermore, 84% of adults fall into groups that put them at higher risk of the disease i.e. high sugar diet and infrequent dental attenders.

Tooth decay is preventable and inequalities are unfair, yet avoidable. Preventative dental care is proactively helping a patient to take action to maintain a healthy mouth, however, as the CGDent-Haleon report highlights, both the ability to provide preventative advice and the consistency of the advice given varies between professionals.

Greater provision of CPD

In clinical practice, clinicians are used to treating patients to a high standard according to the best available evidence base. This may be using the best materials and the selection of treatment options on a case-by-case basis. ‘The Dental Health Barometer‘ seems to demonstrate that current understanding of evidence-based population dental approaches varies in primary dental workforces. Dental public health is taught on undergraduate curriculums but clinicians may be unaware of recent updates to evidence bases. Subsequently, in order to use the primary dental health workforce to contribute to improving oral health outside the dental surgery, it is pertinent to ensure the evidence base is widely understood. There is a risk that some oral health approaches and interventions, although well intentioned, are either at best ineffective or at worst could widen oral health inequalities.

Indeed, the report calls for “greater provision of CPD on the delivery of preventative care”, in this instance it would be a good opportunity for this type of CPD to also cover community based oral health approaches, as well as those more applicable to clinical settings.

Evidence based public health dentistry

Currently, it seems many well-intentioned efforts to improve oral health on a population level don’t actually align to the current evidence base. Giving oral health ‘education’ in the form of assemblies, class room talks or at health fairs, is not proven to improve oral health outcomes. The ‘commissioning for oral health‘ document highlights that for school aged children, one-off dental health education is ineffective and therefore discouraged.

These traditional oral health approaches that focus solely on education can actually widen oral health inequalities in deprived areas. A one-off oral health session only gives knowledge to those with the means i.e. financial and social resources to act on advice, but for vulnerable families it doesn’t empower them to make sustainable change. They might want to go home and buy toothbrushes and toothpastes and healthy food for their family, but they may also have to consider the family budget, constraints on the family’s time and other social factors. Furthermore, sustained behaviour change is seldom achieved in one visit, it takes time and patience to build daily oral health habits as we know from our work on a one-to-one level with patients in clinics.

In my role as an Advanced Oral Health Practitioner, I have heard of families all using the same toothbrush because they cannot afford to buy ones for each family member, and I have met families living in temporary accommodation with limited access to cooking facilities and personal hygiene spaces. These families living in deprivation as highlighted are more likely to be the ones suffering from poor oral health.

The Association of Directors of Public Health stated in 2023, “worrying oral health findings are not a result of behaviour, poor choices or a lack of education.” But rather research, conducted by Public Health England, has called for action to tackle the underlying causes of health inequalities including “creating healthier public policies, supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills and reorienting health services towards prevention”.

Creating healthier public policies, supportive environments and strengthening community action, to improve oral health.”

Figure 1

Indeed, Professor Sir Michael Marmott poses the question on the first page of his book ‘The Health Gap‘, “why treat people only to send people back to the conditions that made them sick in the first place?”.

On a population level, the conditions in which each family lives has a bigger influence on their health outcomes than individual decisions. Research has shown that the social determinants of health account for 30-55% of someone’s health outcomes. Subsequently programmes that consider the social determinants of health, (the conditions in which children and adults can live, grow, work and age) have the best evidence-base behind them.

There is strong supportive evidence for supervised toothbrushing programmes and fluoride varnish programmes, which were mentioned in the CGDent-Haleon report. Also dental professionals suggested collaboration and oral health training for the wider professional workforce (health, education, social). This is further encouraged by the commissioning for better oral health document, as they build on existing capacity and can be targeted to high risk groups.

Why is there variation between which oral health prevention services are offered in different areas?

Oral health is designated to local authority level and subsequently there are huge variations in what is offered on a national scale. This can be confusing for dental professionals working in primary care and the public, which is shown by the recent report.

Within London, I am aware of every borough having a different approach to commissioned oral health programmes and this can result in a postcode lottery in terms of what is provided. The borough I work in has fluoride varnish programmes and supervised toothbrushing programmes in a certain proportion of targeted schools and all SEN schools. But we also provide comprehensive training for health, social and educational professionals for oral health – aligning to the evidence base around capacity building on existing services. This includes working with care homes, carers, outreach workers, social workers, health visitors, nursery staff and recruiting ‘Oral Health Champions’ in all settings we work with. This approach may not be replicated across the UK and dental professionals in primary care may not be aware of the current commissioning of an oral health team in their area.

Indeed, there are calls in the CGDent-Haleon report for a national oral health programme (similar to ChildSmile in Scotland or Designed to Smile in Wales) which creates a base level of preventative care, for both children and adults and integrates oral health into general health. It could use universal proportionalism to scale up priorities, identified by local need. If there was a national oral health programme there could be potential for local practices to assist with the running of this, for example training teachers on supervised tooth brushing programmes or visiting local care homes to provide quality assured oral health training to staff members. 

Oral health was included in a recent NHS England initiative Core20PLUS5, a national NHS England approach to support the reduction of health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort of the most deprived 20%, plus inclusion health groups and identifies ‘5’ focus clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. The Core20PLUS5 for children did include oral health as a priority so there is hope that some of our concerns as professionals are being heard on a wider level, and taken alongside the recent publication of the ‘The Dental Health Barometer’ report by the College and Haleon, there may be hope for the future!

Figure 1 https://www.cancer.gov/rare-brain-spine-tumor/blog/2024/examining-social-determinants-of-health-to-improve-brain-tumor-patient-quality-of-life

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