In November 2015, the GDC changed the rules on registration to ensure that all Dentists and Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) have a statutory requirement to maintain adequate and appropriate indemnity when practising dentistry in the UK. This has been a professional requirement for some time. Paragraph 1.8 of the GDC Standards document makes it clear that all registrants must have appropriate arrangements in place for patients to seek compensation if they have suffered harm. The GDC goes on to define such arrangements as being appropriate insurance or indemnity.

The Health and Social Care (Disciplinary Procedures) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 currently govern disciplinary proceedings in relation to some family health practitioners, including some family health practitioners.

It’s fair to say that nobody likes to receive complaints, but our ability to respond to them constructively, and to learn any lessons that they provide for us, goes to the very heart of professionalism especially working in dental practice.

In addition to several references in the press to “dirty dentists” this is the month that the case of Dr D’Mello returned to the GDC. More importantly, when the case is reported in the national press it has the potential to suggest that dental surgeries may not be safe or that cross - infection standards have been disregarded. One way to avoid such suspicion is to share your infection control routines with your patients at an early stage when they first come for treatment; adopt an “open house” policy.

Find out why you need to put your reasons in writing, and be clear and focused on why the relationship needs to end. Read our advice booklet on Ending Professional Relationships

Learn why this raises important questions about confidentiality, and your duty of care towards other family members, in particular, children.

Dr Jane Merivale, Senior Dentolegal Adviser at Dental Protection, explains why discussion around ending a relationship should always be couched in terms of the best interests of the patient.

Mohamed Jaffer graduated in 2013 from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

When the General Dental Council (GDC) decided to allow certain DCPs direct access to patients as of 1 May 2013, many questions arose. Dental Protection sets out its stall in this article.

We do not, and never have, used the number of telephone calls from a member seeking advice as part of our risk assessment of a member.

Dental Protection is pleased to see Public Health England’s new guidance for healthcare workers infected with bloodborne viruses, which will enable affected members of the dental team to perform a wider range of non-exposure prone procedures. This has been achieved by reclassifying the treatments normally performed by dental team members within their registered scope of practice.

Following years of HIV-positive dentists not being allowed to practise in the UK, the Department of Health has lifted the ban, replacing it with a process regular testing and registration