General Dental Council

I agree with it.

Is it tough having a case with the GDC? Yes.

It's really tough.

It's very humbling.

yes

and that must be a strange sensation right

it's not nice but I've come to this right the GDC is are like the referees in a football match.

Well, you can take the referee on, but when the referee is in that position, he holds the cards and you do as the referee says.

We know one of the biggest challenges with that is maybe managing staff, keeping up with regulations.

And then obviously people do worry about complaints, which unfortunately happen, even when you're doing everything right, it feels like, but then litigation and also the worry of GDC.

And that's before we even get home and then deal with everything normal life throws at us.

So family life, children, schools, parents, evenings, those sort of things.

We

talked it through what was going to happen police-wise.

We talked it through the GDC.

We talked it through the health conditions.

I absolutely loved my time in Canada.

And then we came back, finished the assessments, and we had to do a top-up program, which was then run by Kent Surrey and Sussex Deanery, which covered things that, of course, didn't cover, such as British law legislation, medical emergencies to UK standards, and cross-infection measures, radiography, all those things that we did cover, but it wasn't to the UK required standard for GDC registration.

And then from that, we sat an exam with the Royal College of Surgeons.

So not only did we have to pass the George Brown, we had to pass the Royal College of Surgeons exams as well.

But that's where my role moved to from moving up here.

And that was what was such a big jump because I was so passionate about dental technology and all of that side of things to then move away in a sense was a big step in my head but it was the right step it brought me closer to family up here and it was a new start and uh that was that was the right thing to do as far as the dental technology side within a week of being up here I was put in contact with a colleague at what was then NHS Education Scotland through through Jeff Lewis actually from Cardiff Met he'd been involved in reworking the national occupational standards and they are a list of standards for dental technology training which Most of the courses in the UK don't follow them by description.

They follow their own protocol that meets the GDC learning outcomes.

In Scotland, it's a little bit different.

on dentistry.

I feel like an absolute forward to say I'm still a dentist, but I'm doing my GDC registration every year, my CPD, so I'm still here.

And to be honest, most of my clients are dentists, so I feel like I haven't really left, to be honest.

So, yeah.

So what are the requirements for dental practitioners and how do they meet them?

So those requirements are laid down pretty much by General Dental Council.

So we have a structured system in the UK.

We have lots of providers.

And I would also say to dentists, again, it's a very personal view, is don't chase the certificate, chase the education.

So that's very important as well.

So CPD, the requirements are set out by the regulator, the General Dental Council.

It's structured over a five-year cycle.

Okay.

So, I mean, up until now, I mean, I went to the UK and I registered with the General Dental Council.

When did you do that? I did that in, I did that when I had a bit of money to go, which was in 2000.

Okay.

So our approach to whitening is probably different to some of other conventional toothpaste.

By the way, I should have mentioned that I think in the UK you call it General Dental Council, that GDC.

Yeah.

They put regulations out there in the market that the OTC whitening products can't contain over 0.1% of the hydrogen peroxide, which is the bleaching.

Investing in courses is really important.

it's not like okay if we do a composite course what you need to do after that it's not just like that's it you need to line up cases you need to line up five six cases to do and they get meant not mentors because someone to check that for you ask ask ask if you're not gonna ask anything you know everything I mean, God forbid that you're going to have a big problem, but when you have a problem, the first questions you're going to face from either legal or the GDC or anyone, why did you do it? Have you asked? So if you're not willing to learn, it's difficult.

so young dentists i mean nowadays like especially in implant dentistry which is i mean the ADI like they got the next generation or the next gen ADI group they are doing very well yeah so they are really very enthusiastic and very talented young dentists who's doing it And you have an access to them so you can ask them, like rather than asking someone old like me and just say, oh, how can I do that? Maybe they'll feel easier to ask, you know, the younger implant generation.

And they run their own conferences now as well and the roadmap.

Stress.

So it was really stress.

And did it get to GDC? No, luckily.

I mean, it wasn't a case that for them to go to the GDC.

And for me, this is where this sits.

So, of course, there is a mental health, wellness and dentistry framework endorsed by the GDC, which came out in 2021 and written by titans of our profession.

You know, the Tim Newtons, the Ros MacMullins, the Fiona Elwoods of our people who are my absolute heroes.

They're just fantastic people.

So engage in discussion within practices out of that framework to say, do we feel free to talk about our mental health? Do we feel able and non-stigmatised to do that? And if the answer is actually we feel pretty stigmatised, then we need to make some changes.

And so that is going to take earnest leadership to do that.

Next up for me is leadership from the General Dental Council, a regulator, and I think that the GDC need to take further steps.

And those further steps are around what happens with regard to stress levels in fitness to practice hearings.