College of General Dentistry News

National dental organisations join forces to agree return-to-work guidance

National dental organisations have joined forces to agree guidance for UK general dental practices on returning to work as the coronavirus pandemic eases.

The COVID-19 Future Planning Task Group, convened by the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK and College of General Dentistry, brings together senior members of a number of organisations, including the British Dental Association, the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, the Association of Dental Implantology and the newly-formed British Association of Private Dentistry.

Dental care professionals are represented to ensure all members of the dental team are able to contribute to this vital piece of work, and the Task Group includes patient representation as well as significant professional experience and expertise in a range of areas. These include infection prevention and control, practice management and emergency medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, and further individuals and organisations will be added or consulted over the coming weeks.

Minimising the risk of COVID-19 transmission within and outwith general dental practices as a result of re-opening will bring significant implications for patient care and practice management. The group aims to support and enable a return to practice as soon as it is safe to do so, focussing on key areas to address, identifying or developing practical solutions, and feeding into national planning.

It is highly likely that the measures necessary to safely resume general dental practice will carry substantial financial implications, which will have a profound impact on both NHS and private practices. The increased burden on the NHS will be considerable, and it is clear that the safe treatment of the oral health needs of much of the population will only be possible with significant additional public funding.

The general dental profession has already returned to work in many countries, and the group will draw upon the research, advice and resources already published around the world, as well as those within the UK, adapting and adding to them as necessary to create guidance which is relevant and applicable to primary dental care throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as soon as possible.

College of General Dentistry News

FGDP(UK) publishes revised Standards in Dentistry

The Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP(UK)) has published the second edition of Standards in Dentistry, its flagship publication for general dental practitioners and their teams which acts as a guide to personal or practice-based quality assessment.

A comprehensive compendium of guidance and standards relevant to primary dental care, it sets out specific standards covering consultation and diagnosis, paediatric dentistry, orthodontics, management of acute pain, periodontics, endodontics, removable partial dentures, complete dentures, minor oral surgery, implant dentistry, management of dental trauma, direct, coronal and root surface restorations and indirect coronal restorations.

It also summarises almost 70 standards and guidelines publications by the Faculty and 30 other organisations, encompassing emergency dental care, examination and record-keeping, infection prevention and control, medical emergencies, medications management, oral health, pathology, patient information, practice management, prevention, radiography, restorative dentistry, risk management and communication, sedation, special care dentistry and staff training.

The development of the second edition was carried out by Professor David Moles and his colleagues at Peninsula Dental School, Ewen McColl, Christopher Tredwin, Robert Witton and Lorna Burns, and its publication follows consultation with a wide range of national dental bodies. Professor Moles and his team have fully revised and updated Standards in Dentistry to reflect the contemporary clinical, organisational and dento-legal contexts in which dentistry is practised, as well as changes in the evidence base since the first edition was published in 2006.

The standards in the new edition are focussed on practitioner processes rather than treatment outcomes, descriptions of the ‘unacceptable’ have been dispensed with, and the book adopts the Faculty’s ‘ABC’ (Aspirational, Basic, Conditional) notation for the grading of recommendations. Standards for making and receiving referrals, and for oral medicine, are also included for the first time, and the book includes a section on keeping up-to-date with changing guidelines and standards over time.

Celebrating the publication of the new edition, Ian Mills, Dean of FGDP(UK), said:

“The Faculty’s core function is to raise the standards of care delivered to patients, and the provision of guidance and standards by dentists, for dentists, is central to this. On behalf of the FGDP(UK), I would like to thank David Moles and his colleagues for their tireless dedication in compiling the second edition of Standards in Dentistry. It is an indispensable reference guide which will assist the whole dental team in identifying appropriate standards for the delivery of high quality care.”

Professor David Moles FFGDP(UK), Editor of Standards in Dentistry, added:

“The team at Peninsula Dental School are honoured to have been offered the opportunity by the FGDP to undertake a comprehensive update of the standards. We would like to thank all the individuals and organisations that have generously given their time and expertise to comment on the drafts of the second edition. In some cases we have had to resolve strongly-held but contradictory views held by peer-reviewers. This is an indication of the extent to which members of our profession care passionately about the standards of care we all endeavour to provide, and it also illustrates the subjective nature of clinical practice. Whilst the evidence base for primary care dentistry is constantly improving, it is clear that much remains almost as much an art as a science.”

To mark the publication of Standards in Dentistry, the Faculty is distributing copies to all its members, and new members who join this year will be sent a copy with their welcome pack. Non-members can buy it for £44.99 from the FGDP website, and until the end of 2018 FGDP is also offering a 25% discount on its complete set of five guidance publications, which also includes Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography, Clinical Examination and Record-Keeping, Antimicrobial Prescribing for General Dental Practitioners and Dementia-Friendly Dentistry.