Booking opens for Perio-Occlusion Symposium

Dental professionals are invited to book their place at the Perio-Occlusion Symposium, which has been organised by the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation in conjunction with the College. Members of the College are urged to share the details of the symposium with early career colleagues.

Lecture by Prof Paul Tipton at the Introduction to Occlusion Symposium, April 2025

The symposium will take place on Saturday 20 September 2025 at the Kensington Conference and Events Centre in London and will focus on two aspects of aesthetic dentistry: ‘pink aesthetics’ and the role of occlusion in clear aligner therapy. In a change to previous announcements, lectures will be delivered by Dr Reena Wadia MCGDent and Dr Andy Toy FCGDent. Click for full speaker profiles.

Dr Reena Wadia

Dr Andy Toy

Dr Reena Wadia will present a range of clinical cases and examine the indications and steps of crown lengthening and gum recession surgery, reviewing the procedures currently available. Dr Andy Toy will focus on the steps involved in carrying out an occlusal examination and assessment to arrive at a suitable orthodontic treatment plan using aligner therapy, so as to ensure a healthy, functional occlusion and long-term stability of the treatment provided.

The symposium is designed for early career dental professionals and all dental professionals are welcome to attend. An accessible fee of £70 is available for those who qualified between 2020 to 2025*. For other dental professionals, the fee is £90. Delegates will receive 6 hours of verifiable CPD.

To increase awareness of this educational opportunity, members of the College are encouraged to pass on the details of the symposium to early career members in their team.

Dr Tom Bereznicki FCGDent, Founder of the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation, said:

Our new symposium in September highlights two aspects of aesthetic dentistry which are both equally fundamental in the provision of successful treatment but which tend to be less understood by early career dental professionals, due to lack of training or experience.

An increasing number of younger colleagues are becoming involved in digital smile design and the provision of relevant restorations and the aesthetics and positioning of a patient’s gingival tissues are a vital part of that delivery. The provision of clear aligner therapy has also become very popular with early career dentists but less well understood is that to ensure successful delivery of treatment, an initial occlusal examination should be carried out. For long-term stability of the desired aesthetics, the occlusion on completion should be refined – if this is not carried out, retention such as splinting is likely to fail, followed by relapse. The symposium programme is designed to address these issues and support the ongoing professional development of early career colleagues.

The Perio-Occlusion Symposium is the second in a series of symposia organised by the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation, in collaboration with the College. The Introduction to Occlusion Symposium took place in April this year, and received positive feedback from those who attended. One delegate described the day as “brilliant” and explained it covered treatments that “weren’t taught in university”.  Another said, “All the speakers spoke about occlusion in a comprehensive manner that I understood.

Following the success of the Introduction to Occlusion Symposium, plans have been made to repeat the event in another part of the country to allow a greater number of early career colleagues to attend. The symposium will take place in Edinburgh and registration will be open soon.

The College is also delighted to collaborate with the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation to host the CGDent-GC Award for Foundation Trainees, and the Tom Bereznicki Award for Advanced Aesthetic Dentistry, which provide successful candidates with fully-funded clinical training. Anyone wishing to keep up-to-date with these opportunities and other College activities, are encouraged to create a free online account to become a College Subscriber.

*dental professionals who qualify in 2025 but are not yet registered with the GDC may book a place at the symposium and provide their registration details once they have them.

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Ian Dunn and Jim McCaul to lead study day

The College has announced Dr Ian Dunn FCGDent and Professor Jim McCaul as the speakers at its next annual study day in Glasgow.

l-r: Dr Ian Dunn FCGDent and Professor Jim McCaul

Dr Dunn will deliver Passionate Perio for the Dental Team, a series of sessions covering all aspects of contemporary periodontal management from the latest concepts of aetiology to assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning, including the S3 Treatment Guidelines and minimally invasive periodontics such as non-surgical regeneration and MINST.

Professor McCaul will then deliver the annual Caldwell Memorial Lecture, entitled Oral Cancer: What you need to know, what you need to do!

The annual study day, organised by CGDent Scotland, takes place at Glasgow Science Centre on the first Friday in December – 5 December this year. With six hours of CPD, the day is attended by up to 400 dental professionals from across the UK, and finishes with a drinks reception which marks the start of the festive season for its many regular attendees.

Ian Dunn is a specialist periodontist working in private practice in the North West of England, taking referrals for all aspects of periodontology. A Fellow of the College, he qualified BDS from the University of Leeds in 1998, was awarded Membership of the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK in 2001, gained an MSc in Periodontology in 2010 and completed specialty training in 2013. He runs the Short Course in Periodontics of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and has recently been appointed Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Periodontics at the University of Central Lancashire.

He was on the teaching staff in the Periodontology Department at Liverpool Dental Hospital for sixteen years, including as Undergraduate Teaching Lead and five years as a Senior Clinical Teacher. He was elected to the Faculty of the British Society of Periodontology in 2014, serves on the organisation’s Council as Honorary Treasurer and is its regional representative for Merseyside and Cheshire. He was the Deputy of the European Federation of Periodontology Communications Committee and is on the editorial board of Dental Update.

Jim McCaul is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Professor Emeritus at the University of Bradford Institute for Cancer Therapeutics and Assistant Editor of the International Journal of Surgery and IJS Case Reports. Dual-qualified in medicine and dentistry, he was previously a Consultant Surgeon in Yorkshire and at the Royal Marsden and Northwick Park hospitals in London, and completed a PhD in Cancer Science at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute. His private practice encompasses all aspects of facial surgery including removal of facial lesions, skin cancer surgery, facial plastic surgery, salivary gland surgery and dentoalveolar surgery. He is a former Associate Editor of the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, reviews for 14 other international medical research journals, and is author of the book Face to Face as well as five book chapters, 105 peer-reviewed research papers and over 160 abstracts.

With 13 national and international awards for research, he is currently Chief Investigator of the Lugol’s iodine in head and neck cancer surgery and Lugol’s Iodine in Surgical Treatment of Epithelial Dysplasia in the Oral Cavity and Oropharynx trials with the aim of minimising impacts and optimising outcomes from head and neck cancer surgery and effectively treating after-effects such as osteoradionecrosis. He is also investigating dysbiosis in the microbiota in the gut, circulation and oral cavity in oral cancer patients. He is a past winner of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons’ President’s Award, Surgery Prize and Norman Rowe Clinical Research Prize.

The Caldwell Memorial Lecture is held in memory of Robert Craig Caldwell, who graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1950 and became a much-loved Dean of the School of Dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, before he died of leukaemia at the age of just 44.

The study day is open to all dental professionals, and can be attended in person or virtually.

Fee discounts are available to College members as follows: College dentist members can buy their tickets for just £149 (£249 once ‘early bird’ places are sold out), compared to the full rate for non-member dentists of £349. The concessionary rate for dental technicians, dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental nurses, practice managers and retired practitioners is £149, but for College members in these categories it is just £129.

Breakfast rolls, a two-course lunch, refreshments throughout the day and evening drinks are all included in the attendance fee, and there is an accompanying trade exhibition to visit.

Attendees at the CGDent Scotland Study Day 2024

Other discounts to the full rate are available to Foundation Dentists / Vocational Trainees and their trainers, as well as members of the Glasgow Odontological Society and the Royal Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland.

For further information, visit our events pages.

A review of the CGDent Scotland 2024 Study Day is available here

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CGDent Scotland Annual Study Day

Friday 5 December 2025, 9am-5.30pm (registration from 8am, drinks reception until 7pm)

Glasgow Science Centre, 50 Pacific Quay, Glasgow G51 1EA

Passionate Perio for the Dental Team

and

Oral Cancer
“What you need to know, what you need to do!”

Lecture programme

The CGDent Scotland Study Day 2025 will feature Dr Ian Dunn FCGDent, registered specialist periodontist, presenting on the topic of perio for the dental team.

Professor Jim McCaul, oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow, will deliver this year’s Caldwell Memorial Lecture on oral cancer.

Format

The CGDent Scotland Study Day can be attended in person or virtually.

For in-person attendees, the six hours of CPD lectures will be interspersed with two coffee breaks, a two-course lunch, and a drinks reception afterwards. Delegates will also be able to visit the accompanying trade exhibition. Free parking is available.

Fees

Non-member dentist: £349 (current early bird rate: £249)

Odonto ticket (Glasgow Odontological Society & The Royal Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland Members) : £319 (current early bird rate: £219)

CGDent member dentist: £249 (current early bird rate: £149)

Non-member retired, technician, hygienist, therapist, nurse or practice manager: £149

CGDent member retired, technician, hygienist, therapist, nurse or practice manager: £129

Recent graduate (graduated in or after 2021): £149

Foundation Trainee / Vocational Trainee: £75

Membership of the College of General Dentistry is open to all registered dental professionals. Membership is available from £135 for dentists, £45 for dental nurses and £91 for other registered dental professionals. The full list of CGDent membership rates is here  

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Occlusion and perio symposia for early career dentists

The College of General Dentistry is delighted to partner with the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation to host a series of symposia for early career dentists on the topics of Occlusion and Perio. 

Carefully curated for early career dentists, the symposia will be open to dentists who qualified in the UK or overseas between 2019 and 2023 and have been practising in the UK for at least the past two years.

Introduction to Occlusion Symposium

The first of the symposia, Introduction to Occlusion Symposium for Early Career Dentists, will take place on Saturday 5 April 2025 at the Kensington Conference and Events Centre in London.

A line-up of renowned speakers will deliver a series of lectures to enhance delegates’ understanding of the fundamentals of occlusion and how these principles can support the placement of successful, long-term restorations for patients presenting with tooth wear and other conditions.

The opening lecture will be delivered by Dr Tom Bereznicki FCGDent, a general dental practitioner with a special interest in restorative dentistry and founder of the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation. Dr Bereznicki’s presentation will be followed by sessions from Professor Paul Tipton FCGDent, Dr Ken Harris FCGDent, Dr Tif Qureshi FCGDent and Dr Shiraz Khan, and Dr Koray Feran FCGDent.

Perio-Occlusion Symposium

The second in the series of symposia for early career dentists will focus on the aesthetic aspects of perio and functional occlusal aspects post orthodontic treatment and will also take place at Kensington Conference and Events Centre in London on Saturday 20 September 2025.

The event will consist of two half-day sessions delivered by Dr Reena Wadia MCGDent, a Specialist Periodontist and founder of Perio School, and Dr Raman Aulakh FCGDent, a Specialist Orthodontist, Invisalign Platinum Elite Doctor and co-founder of Aligner Dental Academy.

Alongside the programme of lectures, delegates at either symposia who wish to develop their knowledge of occlusion or perio further, can visit a selection of education stands to learn more about leading postgraduate courses available in these fields.

To ensure the symposia are accessible to early career dentists, the fee for each event has been set at an affordable rate of £75 per symposium and they will each take place on a Saturday to avoid time away from clinic.

Tickets for the Introduction to Occlusion Symposium for Early Career Dentists will be made available from January 2025. Bookings for the Perio-Occlusion Symposium for Early Career Dentists will open later next year, and as places are limited, dentists are advised to secure a ticket early to avoid disappointment.

Eligible dentists interested in attending either or both symposia, are urged to ‘save-the-dates’ and sign-up to receive a notification as soon as tickets go on sale.

The Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation supports educational initiatives for early career dentists and is working in conjunction with the College, and other collaborators, to provide a range of developmental opportunities for this cohort. Alongside the Introduction to Occlusion and the Perio-Occlusion Symposia, the Foundation funds the CGDent and GC Award for Foundation Trainees, which offers the chance to win fully-funded composite layering training in Belgium. An advanced aesthetic dentistry competition, which will provide each successful candidate with a fully-funded place on a hands-on digital dentistry course, is launching soon and other projects are also planned.

Subscribe to the College for free to receive our monthly newsletter and stay informed about all upcoming opportunities with the College and the Tom Bereznicki Charitable Educational Foundation.

Dental care for patients with diabetes

CGDent recorded webinar, Thursday 26 January 2023

In this webinar hosted by the College and Office of Chief Dental Officer England (OCDO), we explore the importance of non-communicable diseases in an ageing population and focus on Type 2 diabetes.

The webinar addresses the burden of diabetes and its relationship with periodontitis, explaining visually the intimate link between the two diseases and how periodontal therapy can improve diabetes outcomes. The drive from medical organisations for engagement of oral healthcare professionals in helping them manage the diabetes epidemic will be discussed and data shared from primary care dental practices who are engaging in early case detection for diabetes, in line with the 2019 commissioning standard spearheaded by the OCDO. We will finish by looking into the future for oral healthcare professionals as we gradually succeed in putting the mouth back into the body.

Introduction:

  • Dr Abhi Pal, President of the College of General Dentistry

Speakers:

  • Professor Iain Chapple, Professor of Periodontology and Director of Research Institute of Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham
  • Tashfeen Kholasi FCGDent, Vice President of the College of General Dentistry
  • Jason Wong MBE FCGDent, general dental practitioner and Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England

CPD approx 1.5 hours

GDC development outcomes: B, C, D

This webinar is hosted by the College of General Dentistry and powered by our CPD delivery partner, ProDental CPD – watch recording below.

It was free to view live for all dental professionals, and College members also have free access to the recorded webinar and can claim CPD hours for free.  A £20 fee will apply for non-members who wish to claim CPD.

Membership of the College of General Dentistry is open to all registered dental professionals. Membership for dentists is available from £94, and for other registered dental professionals from £33. The full list of CGDent membership rates is at https://cgdent.uk/membership-fees/

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Face-to-face study days with colleagues again!

After the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years, the College was delighted to be able to connect with dental colleagues at two recent, major face-to-face study events in Gateshead and Glasgow. Valerie Silver, CGDent Northern, and Patricia Thomson, CGDent Scotland, describe the joy of getting back in touch with other dental professionals and updating clinical knowledge with some of the profession’s top experts.

No More Nails – a new look for Northern and dentures!

By Valerie Silver MCGDent, CGDent Northern

Although the Northern Study Day had been planned well in advance for 2020, we hadn’t anticipated that a pandemic would sweep in and stop the world in its tracks. We made the inevitable decision to cancel in 2020 but, following months of restrictions, knew there was a demand for face-to-face events in the North East and so – while the second (or was it the third?) wave broke in early 2021 – we began planning again. 

In July 2021, FGDP transferred to the new College of General Dentistry giving us the opportunity for a fresh start for the Study Day and we were delighted that Abhi Pal, the first elected President of the College, accepted our invitation to join us in his new role.

‘The whole day was fantastically run. So good to have face-to-face a CPD event. James Field is a brilliant speaker and I learnt loads about prosthodontics, a very complicated clinical thing to provide for patients but taught in a way that is relatable and constructive.’

Top prosthodontic tips from James Field

We were hugely grateful to welcome James Field, a Senior Lecturer in Restorative Dentistry and Honorary Consultant in Prosthodontics, back to the North East to share his knowledge with us. ‘No More Nails’ was jam-packed with prosthodontic tips and advice designed to ensure that denture patients will sing our praises for years to come!  

James Field

Top tips included invaluable information on the critical success factors for complete and removable dentures and how to implement techniques to achieve a strong border seal on the upper arch and optimally stable denture on the lower arch. He followed this by demonstrating simple and efficient methods for partial denture design and discussing the clinical stages of implant-supported over denture provision.

‘I thought the presentations by James were excellent. I definitely learned many tips and tricks over the day that I will implement into my clinical practice.’

Building communities 

Despite the difficulties resulting from the pandemic, close to 100 colleagues and a core group of exhibitors and sponsors joined us at the Gateshead Marriott MetroCentre. Many of them were Foundation Dentists and we are delighted to have retained and strengthened our links with the Northern Deanery and Health Education England as it establishes our goal moving forward of engaging with the whole dental team with an emphasis on mentoring and supporting early years colleagues.

‘An excellent speaker and a very well run event. Will look forward to another one. I particularly liked the friendliness of the committee.’

With that in mind, we are towards becoming a CGDent Affiliated Group. We plan to run local events when and where they are needed and, in particular, provide support for young dentists in the North East.

If all goes to plan, we will hold an informal virtual event in late spring or early summer 2022, before organising our follow up Study Day in the autumn. This is provisionally being planned to focus on oral cancers and treatments, and colleagues from across the UK (and further afield) are most welcome to join us!


The biggest one-day dental event in Scotland returns – with a new name

by Patricia Thomson AssocFCGDent, West of Scotland General Dental Practitioner, founding member of CGDent Scotland and Council member of CGDent

As we are all too aware, when the world locked down in March 2020, opportunities to engage with colleagues became virtual with face-to-face events banished from the diary. But in mid 2021, with society benefiting from double (then triple) vaccination and a lifting of restrictions, large scale dental events began to make a return, including a highlight in the calendar, December’s Glasgow Study Day.

The Faculty Study Day, as so many of us knew it, was an institution – thousands of dental professionals having attended since its inception in 1992. It featured some of the legends of dentistry from Van Haywood and Gordon Christensen to Didier Dietschi and Serpil Djemal. Arguably the most social event in dentistry, it catered for 400 attendees and culminated in a drinks reception overlooking the Clyde.

Hosting the Study Day as a CGDent Affiliated Group

In the West of Scotland, we have formed a CGDent Affiliated Group, supporting the principles and ethos of the College. We hope the College’s Career Pathways for all dental professionals will provide many opportunities for mentoring and tuition to foster dental careers in Scotland. So, after our Covid-induced break in 2020, the Scotland Study Day was back with a new name, but with all of the popular elements intact.

Abhi Pal, President CGDent

We marked our first meeting under the banner of CGDent by welcoming the first elected President of CGDent, Abhi Pal, and we were hugely grateful to our excellent speakers Iain Chapple, Carol Tait and Steve Bonsor for sharing their expertise. In particular, we were also thrilled to host the first major face-to-face dental meeting in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

‘Brilliant organisation, world-class presenters, fantastic atmosphere and lovely to be back at a face-to-face event.’

Safety was paramount with lateral flow tests requested alongside mask wearing in the IMAX lecture theatre while, for those who could not attend in person, live streaming was also available. Even so, we felt incredibly lucky to be able to hold the event just before the Omicron wave broke and all large-scale events in Scotland were either cancelled or postponed by the Scottish Government. We were delighted to be joined not just by dentists and hygienists but all of Glasgow’s BDS5 cohort and more than 100 vocational trainees from across Scotland. Equally we could not have run the event without the support of more than 20 sponsors and exhibitors, many of whom have endured a torrid time during the pandemic.

‘Great to see the final year students and VTs so well represented and supported’ 

 The Study Day brought together three of the UK’s most experienced educators. 

Carol Tait, Steve Bonsor and Iain Chapple

Based on current evidence, Iain Chapple discussed the relationship between periodontal disease and other chronic non-communicable diseases, and the role of the dental team in the medical management of their patients. He detailed the diagnosis of early peri implant disease, the consequences of late diagnosis, and reviewed the evidence for long term survival of implants versus periodontally involved teeth, before discussing the success rates and risk factors for implants and the associated legal issues.

‘I have never enjoyed a periodontal lecture/session more. Thank you for making it very interesting today and engaging. I really enjoyed it!’

Carol Tait continued the theme by discussing pulpal and periapical disease and assessment for endodontic treatment, delivering clinical tips on the way, before moving on to complex endodontic problems and techniques, and likely treatment outcomes and methods to increase success rates.

The day finished with the Caldwell Memorial Lecture delivered by Steve Bonsor, General Dental Practitioner and lecturer at the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, whose stimulating address on modern dental materials was delivered in his inimitable, engaging and informative manner.

‘Excellent organisation and presentations giving a very rounded day and all credit to the organisers to assembling such a great turn out.’

Delegates were almost universal in their praise of not just the speakers but of the luxury of being able to interact in person again.  Covid allowing, we look forward to welcoming them back on 2 December 2022 (put the date in your diary!).

*All quotes from our official feedback

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Scotland Study Day 2021

Friday 3 December 2021, Glasgow.

Informative updates on treatments for perio and endodontics

This study day presented an opportunity for you to keep your practice up-to-date, in order to give your patients the most suitable and relevant treatment. Networking with colleagues and peers also provided the means to discuss dental issues with others and share experiences and recommendations to enhance your approach to practice afterwards. 

Continue reading “Scotland Study Day 2021”