Answering a series of questions in the House of Commons from dentist MP Sir Paul Beresford on Sept 14, Minister Dr Poulter said that 35 UK graduates had not been allocated on Dental Foundation Training this year. He also said that there had 951 placements, 41 of which are dental graduates from overseas, around half of whom came from the Republic of Ireland. The British Dental Association has issued a press statement condemning the ‘fiasco’.

As well as making changes to its Fitness to practise procedures on which it has been criticised, The General Dental Council (GDC) made decisions that will affect all registrants:

• The Annual Retention Fee will remain unchanged in 2013
• Public consultation will take place this autumn on Direct Access and a new Standards and Ethics guidance
• The GDC will start work on the possibility of introducing a pre-registration year.

Known well among the profession’s key opinion formers, the dental media and the dental trade, there can be no dentist working today who has not in some way been touched by Richard’s work, whether through articles and editorials in the media, client mailings or his work in the field of mouth cancer.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned dentists to be wary when buying dental equipment from the Internet after its enforcement investigators seized a number of potentially dangerous fake dental instruments. This follows an MHRA raid when at a total of 100 fake dental instruments were seized.

Heart Your Smile recently celebrated its first birthday with dental professionals, members of the dental press and its Trustees, at an event in London. The relaxed and informal evening showcased Heart Your Smile’s activities throughout its first year; and presentations from Trustees, Simon Gambold, Seema Sharma and James Goolnik provided an opportunity to say thank you to all its supporters.