One professional group has gone against the trend of increasing numbers on the UK dental register, with nearly 10% fewer dental technicians listed than in 2020. A recent paper offers little prospect of a recovery in numbers here, but may also concern those technicians around the world who are carrying out the work once done in the UK.
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The combination of a Labour administration and a UDA style NHS contract is not unique to England. Wales has had its own UDA based arrangement since 2006. The two nations have experienced both major problems with access, and attempts by their administrations to improve matters with marginal changes. There is though, general agreement that that the UDA contracts need replacement rather than fine tuning.
With its latest publication, the GDC has revisited its core role – that of regulating the dental professions and protecting the public
Read more: Clarification on Scope of Practice Welcomed by Indemnifier
Readers of GDPUK will be familiar with the acronyms MOS and MDS, but might want to get up to speed on MAFS.
Jess‘s Rule was developed in response to the tragic case of Jessica Brady, a 27-year-old who died from advanced cancer after her repeated concerns at her GP practice were not acted upon. The new guidance provides a clear safeguard: when a patient attends multiple times with the same or worsening symptoms, clinicians must stop, reflect, and reconsider whether further investigation or referral is required.
Read more: OHF Welcomes Introduction of Jess’s Rule Across GP Practices
The GDC frequently talk about trust. Their much trumpeted Corporate Strategy for 2026 to 2028 includes the lofty ambition to deal with a problem they took over a decade to even acknowledge: “The strategy also focuses on the current climate of fear within dentistry, with research showing dental professionals‘ perceptions of the GDC decline sharply after qualification.”
Many dental innovations, whether in technique or materials have crossed the Atlantic from west to east on their way to UK practices. But it is not an entirely one way traffic, as shown by a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The story related to dental examination frequency, and asked what for many of its readers will have been a novel question: Is Six Months Still the Standard?
Just a week apart, two rather different stories have emerged from the West Country about dental vans. With their proportionately high rural populations, small coastal communities and many households on low incomes, both Devon and Cornwall have a good deal in common.
Times may have changed since the Yes Minister episode where Jim Hacker explained that The Guardian is read by the people who think they ought to run the country. Nonetheless when it comes to dentistry the house style is not to run an expose on Turkey Teeth but offer a “Guardian View” editorial, setting out what in the paper‘s opinion, needs to be done.