College of General Dentistry Blog, News

Introducing a philosophy of care for the profession

Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent, President of the College, describes the four pillars of the College’s new philosophy of care, an approach it encourages all oral healthcare professionals to adopt in the interests of patients.

When I first took office as President of the College of General Dentistry, the College Council worked hard to focus our priorities. We carefully crafted our mission and vision for dentistry, which set out our values and anchored our initiatives in professional morality, institutional integrity and the public interest. This ethical foundation speaks directly to our ongoing aspirations for a Royal Charter for our profession.

To help guide the evolution of contemporary oral health care, the College has now established a four-pillar philosophy of care – a living blueprint which serves as a professional compass for our entire oral healthcare community:

1. Holistic care

Oral health is inextricably linked to general health, and we are developing an Oral Health for Healthcare curriculum for the wider health and social care workforce. This initiative, in which we are working with the Chief Dental Officer for England and supported by Colgate, will create an ecosystem of resources which finally recognises oral health as a central tenet of systemic health and wellbeing.

By adding an oral health dimension to their practice, healthcare colleagues beyond dentistry will be equipped to raise awareness of oral-systemic connections. Actionable prompts and accessible resources will empower patients and streamline communication throughout health and social care. Importantly, it will aim to synchronise the care patients receive between general and oral healthcare systems.

We are already collaborating with stakeholders in many relevant sectors:

  • pharmacy and retail
  • general nursing and general medical practice
  • dietetics and diabetes care
  • cardiology, bone health and oncology
  • health visiting, early years, and care homes
  • undergraduate medical education

This means the resources will be directly applicable to those involved in:

  • early years and maternity care
  • care of adults and chronic disease management
  • elderly and dementia care
  • disabilities and complex care needs

To ensure widespread clinical utility, we have collated early insights and hosted a workshop designed to understand the real-life challenge that our frontline colleagues face. We have now started to work through potential solutions to navigate these hurdles, as we progress to engineer simple, realistic and pragmatic resources. This initiative will position the College as the leading authority in oral health among our health and social care colleagues.

2. Assured care

Through our formalised career pathways, credentialling schemes and portfolio of guidelines, the College promotes higher standards of care to assure clinical quality and patient safety. Our Faculty Deans have worked hard to develop progressive career pathways, underpinned by our Professional Framework, to provide a more structured and supported career trajectory for all those working in dental primary care.

To take but one example, our Certified Practitioner programme will help to validate the higher skill levels individuals have achieved, and the greater knowledge and further experience they have gained, in specific disciplines. Planned to extend to all members of the oral healthcare team, this will support colleagues in more strategic decisions about their career choices as well as help patients to make informed decisions about the care they receive.

Fellowship, the most distinguished membership of the College, focuses on how members of the whole team have developed their practice for the benefit of both patients and the wider profession. Whether it be through clinical expertise, teaching, research, leadership or in the legal/ethical field, Fellows help the College serve as a catalyst for a shared community of practice. This ensures we can support one another in realising our professional aspirations and reinforce our sense of belonging, while serving patients at our very best.

To ensure greater confidence among practitioners in navigating postgraduate and post qualification education, the College is launching a Training Provider Forum. This group will allow post-qualification education providers to help shape the College’s developing role in quality assurance, guide early-career practitioners, and support our credentialling schemes. Furthermore, our Academic Court will recognise those whose intellectual contributions are central to the delivery of the College’s mission, bringing them together to ensure the College’s continued authority in promoting high standards in education and practice.

Together, these initiatives empower the workforce, advance the profession and support the public and patients to achieve and maintain good oral health.

3. Responsive and proactive care

We aim to drive a major shift from reactive treatment to patient-centred prevention, early detection and tooth preservation, and have convened an international expert consensus group to review the evidence and create a pragmatic framework around initial caries management for the whole oral healthcare team.

Supported by vVardis, this work is led by Professor Avijit Banerjee FCGDent, Dean of the CGDent Faculty of Dentists, who has set out the details of this pivotal aspect of our philosophy of care in the latest issue of the Primary Dental Journal (PDJ). It is intended that this paper will form the basis for upcoming, evidence-based recommendations on the management of early caries in general dental practice.

4. Ethical and Professional Care

The College actively promotes a moral and ethical framework for treatment choices. This includes the importance of beneficence and the decided focus on diagnosis, while carefully weighing the nuanced detail and salient facts that inform our management options.

Some of you will have heard the inaugural College Lecture, Satisficing standards in dentistry: Who decides? Who benefits?, which was delivered by Mr Martin Kelleher FCGDent in June 2025; these questions will also be discussed in the next issue of the PDJ. Building upon the same themes, Dr Catherine Rutland FCGDent will be delivering the 2026 College Lecture, The Ethical Shield: Protecting enamel, professional integrity and patient smiles, on Thursday 12 November in London; this is open to all dental professionals, and others with professional interests in contemporary dental practice, and I encourage readers to attend if you can.

Our upcoming articles and frameworks will guide the profession’s philosophy of care – proving that true sustainability in dentistry starts with preserving enamel.

Writing the future of dentistry

Through these four pillars, we aim to write the future of dental care for the UK and beyond. We are setting a bold direction built upon the firm foundations we proudly inherited from the former Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP).

As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the College, I encourage you to be a part of this journey, where our ambitions speak confidently toward a future Royal College – as our Honorary Founding President, Professor Sir Nairn Wilson CBE, has previously said, “a College that befits excellence in the care of patients with dedicated support for the profession.”

I urge all those delivering oral healthcare to adopt this philosophy of care for the benefit of patients everywhere, and to get behind your future Royal College so that it can stand tall on behalf of all the dental professions. Working together, let these be our greatest achievements.

This article was first published in the recent ‘Dental education’ issue of the Primary Dental Journal, further information on which is available via the button below.

‘Initial dental caries management: a College of General Dentistry (CGDent) philosophy of care statement’, by Professor Avijit Banerjee, is in the same issue. This paper is currently restricted to College members and PDJ subscribers, however it is intended that it will be made available to the whole profession in due course.

PRIMARY DENTAL JOURNAL: DENTAL EDUCATION ISSUE

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College of General Dentistry News

College supports GDC pivot from standards to principles

The College has expressed its support for the General Dental Council’s intention to replace Standards for the Dental Team with a new Framework for Professionalism.

Responding to the regulator’s consultation on the proposed change, which closed last week, the College endorsed the ambition to move away from an approach founded primarily on detailed rules and prescribed behaviours to a principles-based framework, which it says, “has the potential to provide greater flexibility, enabling registrants to exercise appropriate judgement in complex and varied situations.”

However, the College acknowledges that this would be a significant culture change, placing new expectations of agency and responsibility on the practitioner, and that at present many registrants derive confidence from understanding precisely where boundaries lie, particularly when faced with difficult professional or ethical decisions. It is therefore calling for the profession, which “[may not] trust those standing in judgement of their practice”, to be adequately supported in applying broad principles to real-world situations, and equipped to interpret and apply these principles consistently and confidently.

The College’s response encourages the GDC to ensure that the framework will be relevant and meaningful to every part of the registered workforce, regardless of professional title, role or practice setting, and says that the transition to a more principles-based approach will be most successful when accompanied by appropriate support that builds confidence, encourages reflection and promotes consistent understanding across the profession.

The College also says that it stands ready to play a strategic role in this respect, helping to bridge the gap between high-level principles and practical decision-making through the provision of guidance, education, professional development, reflective learning and the sharing of good practice.

Details of the GDC’s proposals are available in its consultation document. The College’s response is available here.

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College of General Dentistry News

Rescheduled College Lecture

The 2026 College of General Dentistry Lecture will now take place on Thursday 12 November.

Dr Catherine Rutland FCGDent will deliver the 2026 College Lecture

The Ethical Shield: Protecting enamel, professional integrity and patient smiles, to be delivered by Dr Catherine Rutland FCGDent, will explore how dental professionals can continuously integrate ethical values into their working lives in order to provide patients with assurance and confidence in the care they receive.

Originally scheduled to take place on 25 June, the lecture was postponed following the issuing of a red heat health alert by the UK Health Security Agency, with transport firms advising against non-essential travel.

Marking the fifth anniversary of the College, it will be the second annual College Lecture, and will build on both Martin Kelleher’s inaugural College Lecture, Satisficing standards in dentistry, and on the rich legacy of Malcolm Pendlebury Lectures previously hosted by the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP).

Dr Rutland is Head of Clinical and Policy at Dentaid, representing the dental charity across the profession and engaging with MPs, public health teams and commissioners. She is also a Board Member of Dental Protection, which indemnifies and supports 70,000 dental professionals worldwide, and a Non-Executive Director and Council Member of the Medical Protection Society, which has a further 245,000 medical professional members in 40 countries. Part of the General Dental Council’s Dental Leadership Network, she is a Trustee of the Dentists’ Health Support Trust, which supports dentists facing mental health and addiction challenges, and was appointed a Trustee of the College of General Dentistry earlier this year. She was previously Director of Policy and Clinical Affairs at the Association of Dental Groups, whose members work with over 22,000 registered dental professionals in treating over 10 million dental patients, and Clinical Director at Simplyhealth, including Denplan, where she chaired both the Clinical Governance Committee and the Denplan Excel Board.

After qualifying as a dentist in 1992 from the University of Leeds, where she achieved a Distinction in oral surgery, she spent two and a half years in secondary care as a House Officer in Leeds and Senior House Officer in Newcastle before moving into general dental practice. She completed Vocational Training in Sunderland and spent a year there as an associate GDP before practising in Reading for three years. From 2000-2019, she was Principal Dental Surgeon and a joint partner at a private dental practice in Thatcham, West Berkshire. She joined Denplan as a Dental Advisor in 2010, and was later promoted to Senior Dental Advisor, Head of Professional Support Services and Head Dental Officer before working there full-time from 2019. In 2013, she completed a Master’s degree in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College London, writing her dissertation on whether both professional integrity and patient autonomy can be satisfied in fulfilling patients’ cosmetic dental desires. She became a Certified Member of the Institute of Risk Management in 2015 and was awarded a Chartered Management Institute Level 7 Certificate in Leadership Mentoring and Coaching in 2016. She became a Fellow of the College in 2023, and in 2024 was a keynote speaker at the CGDent Scotland Annual Study Day, the College’s largest annual CPD event, lecturing on ethical and legal considerations in the provision of aesthetic and cosmetic dental procedures.

The lecture will take place at 3pm at Regent’s University in London.

All dental professionals, and others with professional interests in contemporary dental practice, are eligible to attend, with discounted places for College members. Early bird rates apply for all attendees throughout September.

Those previously registered for the lecture in June have the option to either transfer their ticket or request a refund by emailing [email protected]

To secure your place, click the button below:

BOOK YOUR PLACE

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

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College of General Dentistry News

Catherine Rutland to deliver 2026 College Lecture

The College has announced that Catherine Rutland FCGDent will be delivering the 2026 College Lecture.

The Ethical Shield: Protecting enamel, professional integrity and patient smiles will explore how dental professionals can continuously integrate ethical values into their working lives in order to provide patients with assurance and confidence in the care they receive.

This will be the second annual College Lecture, and will build on both Martin Kelleher’s inaugural College Lecture, Satisficing standards in dentistry, and on the rich legacy of Malcolm Pendlebury Lectures previously hosted by the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP).

Dr Rutland is Head of Clinical and Policy at Dentaid, representing the dental charity across the profession and engaging with MPs, public health teams and commissioners. She is also a Board Member of Dental Protection, which indemnifies and supports 70,000 dental professionals worldwide, and a Non-Executive Director and Council Member of the Medical Protection Society, which has a further 245,000 medical professional members in 40 countries. Part of the General Dental Council’s Dental Leadership Network, she is a Trustee of the Dentists’ Health Support Trust, which supports dentists facing mental health and addiction challenges, and was appointed a Trustee of the College of General Dentistry in 2026. She was previously Director of Policy and Clinical Affairs at the Association of Dental Groups, whose members work with over 22,000 registered dental professionals in treating over 10 million dental patients, and Clinical Director at Simplyhealth, including Denplan, where she chaired both the Clinical Governance Committee and the Denplan Excel Board.

After qualifying as a dentist in 1992 from the University of Leeds, where she achieved a Distinction in oral surgery, she spent two and a half years in secondary care as a House Officer in Leeds and Senior House Officer in Newcastle before moving into general dental practice. She completed Vocational Training in Sunderland and spent a year there as an associate GDP before practising in Reading for three years. From 2000-2019, she was Principal Dental Surgeon and a joint partner at a private dental practice in Thatcham, West Berkshire. She joined Denplan as a Dental Advisor in 2010, and was later promoted to Senior Dental Advisor, Head of Professional Support Services and Head Dental Officer before working there full-time from 2019. In 2013, she completed a Master’s degree in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College London, writing her dissertation on whether both professional integrity and patient autonomy can be satisfied in fulfilling patients’ cosmetic dental desires. She became a Certified Member of the Institute of Risk Management in 2015 and was awarded a Chartered Management Institute Level 7 Certificate in Leadership Mentoring and Coaching in 2016. She became a Fellow of the College in 2023, and in 2024 was a keynote speaker at the CGDent Scotland Annual Study Day, the College’s largest annual CPD event, lecturing on ethical and legal considerations in the provision of aesthetic and cosmetic dental procedures.

The College of General Dentistry Lecture 2026 will take place at 3pm on Thursday 25 June in the historic Cutlers’ Hall in London, and is the centrepiece of the Summer Day programme of events marking the College’s fifth anniversary. The other Summer Day events include the Fellows’ Summer Reception, the inaugural Academic Court Convention, and a lunch for retired members.

All dental professionals, and others with professional interests in contemporary dental practice, are eligible to attend the 2026 College Lecture. Discounted places are available to College members.

To secure your place, click the button below:

BOOK YOUR PLACE

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

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College of General Dentistry News

‘Act now: protect our present, secure our future’: UK dental organisations support World AMR Awareness Week

Thirty million deaths directly related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are expected globally in the period between 2025 and 2050, with an annual mortality rate by 2050 (8.2 million) approaching that of cancer (9.7 million).

The more we use antimicrobial agents, the more AMR is expected to develop. This is leading humanity to face a situation similar to the era before the discovery of antimicrobials, when it was not possible to treat even simple infections.

Dentists prescribe approximately 10% of antimicrobials in the UK and Ireland, and there is evidence of increasing rates of reported resistance to many antimicrobials in head and neck infections. It is important that the dental community acts now in response to this global health threat. Appreciating the requirement for system-level changes to facilitate the provision of best evidence practice, we need to take the lead and protect antimicrobial use to cases when it is justified based on evidence. This could be guided by the available resources in three major national platforms:

  1. Dental antimicrobial stewardship: toolkit (UK Health Security Agency; this includes a link to the Antimicrobial prescribing in dentistry guidance published by the College)
  2. Keep Antimicrobial Working website (British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy)
  3. Dental stewardship resources (Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group)

This year, the United Nations focus has been on non-communicable disease such as cancer, and diabetes. People with these conditions are susceptible to rapidly advancing infection.

Dr Wendy Thompson, the College’s AMR Lead, explained:

“Prevention is better than cure. Preventing non-communicable diseases, such as dental infection, reduces antimicrobial use and must be a global priority to secure our future. That is why, in New York for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly earlier this year, I emphasised that universal access to oral healthcare is an essential element of efforts to keep antibiotics working.”

World AMR Awareness Week, commemorated annually from 18 to 24 November, is a global campaign to raise awareness and increase understanding of AMR and to promote global action to tackle the emergency and spread of drug-resistance pathogens.

Twenty-three national dental organisations have come together to support the WAAW 2025 theme ‘Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future’:

  • Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists (ACOM)
  • Association of Dental Groups (ADG)
  • Association of Dental Hospitals (ADH)
  • British and Irish Society for Oral Medicine (BISOM)
  • British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD)
  • British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN)
  • British Association of Dental Therapists (BADT)
  • British Association of Oral Surgeons (BAOS)
  • British Association of Private Dentistry (BAPD)
  • British Dental Association (BDA)
  • British Endodontic Society (BES)
  • British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)
  • British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT)
  • British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD)
  • British Society of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry (BSP)
  • College of General Dentistry (CGDent)
  • Dental Schools Council (DSC)
  • Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG)
  • Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd)
  • Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FDS)
  • Oral Health Foundation
  • Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG)
  • Society of British Dental Nurses (SBDN)

Dr Noha Seoudi of the Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists, who co-ordinated this year’s statement, said:

“Working together is key to improving knowledge and raising awareness of AMR.”

ACCESS OUR ANTIMICROBIAL PRESCRIBING GUIDANCE

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College of General Dentistry Event

2026 College Lecture

Thursday 12 November 2026, 3pm-5pm, Regent’s University, London

Regents University, Inner Circle, Regents Park, London NW1 4NS

The 2026 College of General Dentistry Lecture will be delivered by Dr Catherine Rutland FCGDent.

The Ethical Shield: Protecting enamel, professional integrity and patient smiles will explore how dental professionals can continuously integrate ethical values into their working lives in order to provide patients with assurance and confidence in the care they receive.

This will be the second annual College Lecture, and will build on both Martin Kelleher’s inaugural College Lecture, Satisficing standards in dentistry, and on the rich legacy of Malcolm Pendlebury Lectures previously hosted by the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP).

The College Lecture will be accompanied by the launch of the College’s Charter campaign, marking our fifth anniversary.

Catherine Rutland is Head of Clinical and Policy at Dentaid, representing the dental charity across the profession and engaging with MPs, public health teams and commissioners. She is also a Board Member of Dental Protection, which indemnifies and supports 70,000 dental professionals worldwide, and a Non-Executive Director and Council Member of the Medical Protection Society, which has a further 245,000 medical professional members in 40 countries. Part of the General Dental Council’s Dental Leadership Network, she is a Trustee of the Dentists’ Health Support Trust, which supports dentists facing mental health and addiction challenges, and was appointed a Trustee of the College of General Dentistry in 2026. She was previously Director of Policy and Clinical Affairs at the Association of Dental Groups, whose members work with over 22,000 registered dental professionals in treating over 10 million dental patients, and Clinical Director at Simplyhealth, including Denplan, where she chaired both the Clinical Governance Committee and the Denplan Excel Board.

After qualifying as a dentist in 1992 from the University of Leeds, where she achieved a Distinction in oral surgery, she spent two and a half years in secondary care as a House Officer in Leeds and Senior House Officer in Newcastle before moving into general dental practice. She completed Vocational Training in Sunderland and spent a year there as an associate GDP before practising in Reading for three years. From 2000-2019, she was Principal Dental Surgeon and a joint partner at a private dental practice in Thatcham, West Berkshire. She joined Denplan as a Dental Advisor in 2010, and was later promoted to Senior Dental Advisor, Head of Professional Support Services and Head Dental Officer before working there full-time from 2019. In 2013, she completed a Master’s degree in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College London, writing her dissertation on whether both professional integrity and patient autonomy can be satisfied in fulfilling patients’ cosmetic dental desires. She became a Certified Member of the Institute of Risk Management in 2015 and was awarded a Chartered Management Institute Level 7 Certificate in Leadership Mentoring and Coaching in 2016. She became a Fellow of the College in 2023, and in 2024 was a keynote speaker at the CGDent Scotland Annual Study Day, the College’s largest annual CPD event, lecturing on ethical and legal considerations in the provision of aesthetic and cosmetic dental procedures.

Registration & fees

All dental professionals, and others with professional interests in contemporary dental practice, are eligible to attend, with discounted places available to College members. Early booking rates apply until 30 September.

College member
– early booking		£30
£20
Non-member
– early booking		£40
£30

BOOK NOW – To access the booking form, sign in or register a free College subscriber account and refresh this page.

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*This lecture was originally scheduled to take place as part of the College Summer Day on 25 June 2026, however the day unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the UK Health Security Agency’s red heat-health alert.

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College of General Dentistry Blog

Standards in Dentistry, 3rd edition: what’s changed?

As members of the editorial team responsible for the recent revision of Standards in Dentistry, Professor Christopher Tredwin FCGDent, Dean of Queen Mary University of London Institute of Dentistry and Lorna Burns, Lecturer in evidence-based healthcare at the University of Plymouth, introduce the updated guidance.

Professor Christopher Tredwin
Lorna Burns

The third edition of Standards in Dentistry has been published and is now available to view online. Members of the College can also download and save it to their desktop or other devices.

The editorial team tasked with updating the guidance was led by Ewen McColl FCGDent, Professor of Clinical Dentistry and Head of Peninsula Dental School at the University of Plymouth, and included Chris Tredwin FCGDent, Professor of Restorative Dentistry, Dean and Director of Queen Mary University of London Institute of Dentistry; Robert Witton FCGDent, Professor of Community Dentistry at Peninsula Dental School and Chief Executive of Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise CIC; Lorna Burns, Information Specialist at Peninsula Dental School and lecturer in evidence-based healthcare at the University of Plymouth; and general dental practitioners Nicola Gore FCGDent and Susan Nelson MCGDent. The team also worked closely with Abhi Pal FCGDent, then President, now Immediate Past President of the College.

The fully revised edition incorporates new and updated guidelines and standards which are appropriate for the whole primary care dental team. It follows the structure of the previous two editions, and contains two main sections: summary tables of clinical standards, and lists of guidelines, arranged topically by area of care. The publication does not intend to imply that patients should receive identical care.

Guidelines provide recommendations for effective practice in the management of clinical conditions where variations in practice occur and where effective care may not be delivered uniformly. 

Clinical standards are used to describe the specific elements of care that need to be correct in order to optimise the outcomes for patients. Standards must be unambiguous and measurable.

The clinical standards tables are presented as A: Aspirational, B: Basic and C: Conditional. The A,B,C clinical standards are process measures, not outcomes. 

  • Aspirational – gold-level standards which are not essential
  • Basic – minimum standard necessary to ensure patient safety
  • Conditional – these recommendations only apply in particular situations

Clinicians can use the aspirational standards to improve their practice whilst ensuring that basic standards are met. However, clinicians must assess each clinical situation, the circumstances and the evidence available to them, and use their clinical judgement to settle on the course of action which is in the patient’s best interests. It is recommended that clinicians explain the choices to the patient, the reasons for recommending the chosen course of action and then seek the patient’s consent before clearly justifying the reasoning and recording the consent in the patient’s records. 

The editorial team drew the summaries of clinical standards from multiple, authoritative sources of guidance for primary care dentistry. All of the summary tables have been reviewed and updated for this edition, and revisions were peer-reviewed in consultation with representatives from across the UK dental sector. 

There are new summary tables for Digital Dentistry and Aesthetic Dentistry, reflecting changes in dental care. The newly incorporated standards for Digital Dentistry recognise that dental practices are at different stages of implementing full digital workflows. Therefore, the basic standards in this table refer to the legal necessities such as meeting GDPR requirements and maintaining secure electronic systems. However, in recognition that practices will be working towards the aspirational goal of full clinical digital workflow, there is also a basic standard for members of the dental team to develop the skills and knowledge to enable the transition. 

The new standards for Aesthetic Dentistry are aligned with the legal position decided by the GDC in light of the High Court ruling in the case of GDC v Jamous. Tooth whitening treatment is the practice of dentistry and can only legally and safely be carried out by registered dental professionals. The basic standards for Aesthetic Dentistry highlight the importance of communications with patients, including discussion of risks and managing expectations. There is also clear emphasis on the responsibilities of the dental care professional to act within their scope of practice, competence and training.

The new 2025 edition of Standards in Dentistry is designed for the busy practitioner as a chairside guide which compiles guidelines from multiple bodies, covering all aspects of clinical care from diagnosis to treatment. 

In updating this publication, the editorial team reviewed and updated summaries of the guidelines of more than twenty, mostly UK guideline-producing bodies such as the College of General Dentistry, Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme, British Endodontic Society, British Orthodontic Society, British Society of Paediatric Dentistry, British Society of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry, and Royal College of Surgeons Faculty of Dental Surgery. 

This comprehensive guidance for all members of the oral healthcare team, plays an essential role in maintaining standards of excellence within general dentistry, and supports practitioners to continue providing high standards of care to their patients.  

The third edition of the Standards in Dentistry is available to view online. To gain access you must be signed in as a College Member or as a free College Subscriber. Members of the College can also download it to their devices as a PDF for personal use, giving access to search, text-select and print functionality.

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College of General Dentistry News

Standards in Dentistry: new edition

The College has published the third edition of Standards in Dentistry, its comprehensive and free online manual bringing together standards and guidelines for primary care dentistry.

A compendium acting as a guide to personal or practice-based quality assessment, it sets out specific basic and aspirational standards covering 17 areas of practice.

Fifteen of these have been fully updated from the second edition to reflect changes to the evidence base and other contemporary contexts:

  • Consultation and diagnosis
  • Making and receiving referrals
  • Direct (plastic), coronal and root surface restorations
  • Indirect coronal restorations (crowns, bridges, onlays, veneers)
  • Endodontics
  • Implant dentistry
  • Management of acute pain
  • Management of dental trauma
  • Minor oral surgery
  • Oral medicine
  • Orthodontics
  • Paediatric dentistry
  • Periodontics
  • Complete dentures
  • Removable partial dentures

Two new sets of standards have also been added:

  • Aesthetic dentistry
  • Digital dentistry 

The standards are focussed on practitioner processes rather than treatment outcomes, and the book adopts the College’s ‘Aspirational’, ‘Basic’, ‘Conditional’ (ABC) notation for the grading of recommendations.

Standards in Dentistry also summarises over 100 standards, guidelines and advisory publications by the College and 50 other national and international bodies, and signposts to other relevant resources, organisations and legislation.

In addition to synopses of guidance covering the areas of practice listed above, summaries of 18 clinical and non-clinical fields from the second edition have been updated:

  • Clinical governance
  • Emergency dental care
  • Examination and record-keeping
  • Infection control
  • Medical emergencies
  • Medications management
  • Oral health
  • Pathology
  • Patient information
  • Practice management
  • Prevention
  • Radiography
  • Research governance
  • Restorative dentistry
  • Risk management & communication
  • Sedation
  • Special care dentistry
  • Staff training

Four brand new summaries have also been added, covering:

  • Antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Equality, diversity and inclusion
  • Mental health and wellbeing

The first edition of Standards in Dentistry, published by the former Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP) in 2006, combined the functions of two previous FGDP publications, Self-Assessment Manual and Standards (SAMS) and Guidelines for Structure and Process in Dental Practice. The second edition was published in 2018, with the College making it available to the profession since it inherited the Faculty’s portfolio of guidance and standards publications in 2021.

The newly expanded third edition has been two years in the making, with over 1,000 comments received and considered during consultation processes with College Fellows and a wide range of national dental organisations. It is the College’s first comprehensive update of a flagship FGDP publication, and the first standards document to employ the College’s new branding following the recent grant of a Coat of Arms.

It was developed by an editorial team led by Professor Ewen McColl FCGDent (Head of Peninsula Dental School, Chair of the Dental Schools Council, Editorial Director of Dental Update and College Council member), which also included Professor Chris Tredwin FCGDent (Dean of Queen Mary University of London Dental School), Professor Robert Witton FCGDent (Professor of Community Dentistry, Peninsula Dental School), Lorna Burns (Information Specialist and Associate Head of Postgraduate Taught Programmes, Peninsula Dental School), Dr Nicola Gore FCGDent (general dental practice principal and College Council member) and Dr Susan Nelson MCGDent (general dental practitioner, implant dentist and College Council member).

For the benefit of the whole dental profession and all dental patients, the College has made Standards in Dentistry available to view free of charge.

College members can also download it to their devices as a PDF for personal use, giving access to search, text-select and print functionality.

Celebrating the publication of the new edition, Dr Roshni Karia MCGDent, President of the College, said:

“The provision of guidance and standards by dental professionals, for dental professionals, is central to the mission of the College, and Standards in Dentistry is an indispensable reference guide offering a comprehensive pool of information for all those working in general dental practice and primary dental care. Generations of oral healthcare professionals across the world have been supported by this and other publications of the former FGDP in their journey to provide effective clinical care and better outcomes for their patients, and the College will continue to provide this assistance for future generations. On behalf of the College, I would like to thank all the authors for their hard work, and the many College members and external consultees who gave their time to provide feedback and suggestions.”

All dental professionals and practices are encouraged to view Standards in Dentistry by visiting our Standards and Guidance page, where free access is also offered to the following publications:

  • Clinical Examination and Record-Keeping
  • Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography
  • Guidance Notes for Dental Practitioners on the Safe Use of X-Ray Equipment
  • Antimicrobial Prescribing in Dentistry
  • Training Standards in Implant Dentistry
  • Mentoring in Implant Dentistry
  • Dementia-Friendly Dentistry
  • An Introduction to Research for Primary Dental Care Clinicians
  • Implications of COVID-19 for the safe management of general dental practice

Users who are not members of the College will need to be logged into their College Subscriber account; new users can register for free at cgdent.uk/register-new

new users – register here
members & subscribers: log in to view standards in dentistry

Print copies will be available for sale in due course.

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College of General Dentistry News

College endorses updated guidance on prevention of caries in children

The College has endorsed newly updated guidance on preventing tooth decay in children from the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP).

The third edition of Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children, published this week, aims to support dental teams to improve and maintain the oral health of their younger patients through the delivery of preventive care and, where necessary, effective management of dental caries.

It also encourages shared decision-making, providing strategies for the dental team to support and empower children and young people (and their parents or carers) to take an active role in maintaining their oral health.

The guidance has been updated following a thorough review of the evidence, and after consultation with dental organisations including the College. While many parts remain unchanged, revisions since the second edition include amendment of the recommendation about preventive fissure sealants and wider application of vital pulp therapy in permanent teeth, with a new key recommendation about pulpotomy for treatment of pulpitis with irreversible symptoms.

The new guidance, and a downloadable ‘Guidance in Brief’ summary, are available at https://www.childcaries.sdcep.org.uk

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College of General Dentistry News

Martin Kelleher to deliver inaugural College Lecture

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:

BOOK YOUR PLACE

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

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