Key principles underpinning the CHALLENGE approach to a new GDS contract in 2014/5

Any new system must concentrate its efforts on delivering –

·         Improved oral health for the population as a whole

·         An oral care system that patients understand and can trust

·         A profession that can take pride in its work

These are the simple but important features of a successful contractual arrangement between the dental profession and the Government.

In addition, CHALLENGE would say that the following issues are just as important -

·         A system where the roles of the state and of individual service providers  are crystal clear

·         A system in which the NHS and non-NHS system work in combination, not in opposition

·         a system in which the profession is encouraged and empowered to act professionally

Whatever emerges from the discussions between the profession and the NHS must be able to demonstrate that it has matched these issues with due sensitivity to the needs of both sides. Both sides need to recognise the need for fiscal control and integrity and both sides need to understand that if high clinical standards are required then the funding has to be there to support those standards.

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Twitter @ChallengeDoH

Challenge on Facebook 

Chief Dental Officer for England issues a ‘Call to Action’ to the dental profession to help find workable solutions to the contractual problems that have beset the NHS general dental service since the introduction of the last set of contractual changes in 2006.

You’re a bit late getting to the party, Barry, but now you are here you will be pleased to know that your old adversaries CHALLENGE have been resurrected and are looking forward to joining a robust debate alongside you.

Barry, you will remember, but for those who are too young to recall, CHALLENGE was a political pressure group set up in the wake of the 2006 contract debacle. They argued long and strong for major changes early in the life of the new contracts. They even made a significant appearance in front of a Parliamentary Health Select Committee back in 2008. The three founder members were Eddie Crouch, John Renshaw and Ian Gordon. These are well known names with a long track record of standing up for GDPs in the one-sided battle with the Department of Health. The same three professional leaders are still the face of CHALLENGE.

The call for action from the CDO provides us dentists with quite an intriguing headline, especially coming from one of the most obdurate supporters of the status quo. Barry Cockcroft comes to the vexatious arguments over the way the NHS GDS and its various contractual formats work for patients and for dentists after telling anyone who would listen - for years on end - that the service is in great shape and patients are deliriously happy with the way they are treated.

Well, if Barry wants to hear from the profession, CHALLENGE is willing to take up the cudgels once again to promote and articulate the message we hear coming from all the GDPs we listen to on a regular basis. In the near future we will be running our own listening exercise to gather up data on how you see the contract and how you feel you have fared in the eight years since it began. We also need to know your concerns about the pilots being run at the moment and the possible shape of a new service that may emerge.

If we as a profession are to make any real impact other than making a lot of noise and blowing out a lot of hot air, we need your input to validate what we are saying. When that chance comes along please take the few moments it will require to put down, for our benefit and for the benefit of all your colleagues, exactly how you feel about the situation you find yourself in.

If Barry wants action, CHALLENGE says let’s give it to him!!

John Renshaw

CHALLENGE

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Twitter @ChallengeDoH

Challenge on Facebook 

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln

Ok its crunch week, and the quote I have used here seems apposite to the issues at stake in Wimpole Street this Friday, 21st Febrary.

The Probe carries its coverage of the Big Lie discussions which carry on from  Dr Kilcoyne’s leading campaign . The letter in the Daily Telegraph stirred the waters.

The effect of The Probe is to relight the fires of this burning issue in a very welcome manner. The consistent spin of the official replies is becoming eye crossing.

There is general worry that the tripartite comfy zone that is the table around which the BDA, the DH and NHS England sit is looking increasingly as though it is actually a defensive set up to protect their interests, at the cost the care of the patient by dentists.

And so this Friday, as BDA Members YOU have a chance to make YOUR voice heard.

If you cannot attend this EGM, please ensure you vote by proxy. Crack on now because it is a carefully defined legally binding process.  You cannot just phone a mate the day before.

Now is the chance to fire up your Representative Association.  Put a rocket up their collective arses if you will.

There will not be a second chance before Contract Reform hits you between the eyes.

It is a well worn quote of Napoleon Hill, but still, it applies.

“Whatever you want, oh discontented man, step up, pay the price – and take it.”

Good luck to our illustrious and historic Profession – it is not too dramatic to say that a large part of the future of the present generation of GDPs hangs on what happens this Friday.

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I told you January was interesting …

First we have a BDA EGM on the cards. Anyone who reads tea leaves must be thinking Friday 21^st of February is the new Ides of March. While the BDA turns in on itself in what some might see as a death roll, the world moves on and, boy, how fast!

The DFT numbers have been formally announced – see the link – and the big picture?  1 in 5 students have not got a job to look forward to – nice motivation if you can get it – NOT!  Approximately 240 out the UK Graduate bag of about 1100 have been ‘placed on a “Reserve List” I say approximately – the numbers are not entirely clear even if the big picture is.   What’s that – about 10% in the end? well, give or take.

Have we all been witness to a Coup d’Etat in dentistry – CoPDenD have quietly become the most influential body in dentistry. If you are a student on the receiving end, it must feel like a very unfair and cruel arbitrary selection process.

You know what sucks?  It is clear that CoPDenD would have you believe that the NHS and it’s public funding is the only kid on the block. They saw off Private Vocational Training and now have a monopoly grip on the peri-graduation phase of ones career. Is it me or does CoPDenD have a funny smell around it?

The size of the private dental market is now likely bigger than all of the NHS dental funding for dental care, both primary and secondary.

So why is there not a flourishing private-public partnership in dentistry in which the shortfalls of NHS funded DFT are more than taken up by a commercial organisation?  If ever an opportunity for the FGDP to do something practical ever has been missed this must be it.  I’ll bet if SERCO or Compass were bidding, Private VT would be up and  running by now.

And now ... midway though a Manpower Review at the Higher Education Funding body…  the word on the block  is that a blanket 10% student cut across the board has been enacted with immediate effect.  The Twittersphere is lighting up this week as the well  hinted cuts are finally publicised.

Perversely, that actually sounds like some form of a solution.  Fewer graduating dentists are an inevitable consequence of reduced Government funding. Since we all know the Government IS broke, maybe this 10% cut will be in ADDITION to the chopping of two dental schools, which is being widely trawled.

That will in 2 years mean a broad reduction of about 270 students per annum - job done, CoPDenD’s DFT books balanced.

But where is the drive to use the vibrant private market to create educational opportunities which support and supplement the NHS funded basic training? Lots of willing weekenders but no structure.

In its small way, dentistry is now witnessing the effects of lack of public funding. If the profession of dentistry is a thermometer for public finances, the mercury is falling.  So be it. Can’t spend what we don’t have.  It is not entirely unexpected after all

But there is a £7Bn, and growing,  private market for dentistry.   In fact, year on year growth of 10% and more is anticipated.

There has to be a better way.  The big picture of publicly funded dentistry is gaining a degree of focus.  We need to ensure that private dentistry builds its own big picture, and fast.

How? By whom?

Questions a’plenty. Answers on a postcard please!  If 10% of you reply…

See you soon people. How much more news can there be?

https://www.bda.org/docs/EGM-Notice-2014-02-21.pdf

http://www.copdend.org/content.aspx?Group=press%20releases&Page=press%20release%20january%202014

http://www.dentalschoolscouncil.ac.uk/

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/

GDPUK Launches UK Dental Calendar

At the beginning of the year, we launched a new feature on the GDPUK Site. This feature is the “Dental Calendar”. The Dental Calendar will be a central area for everyone from the dental profession to know what is taking place in the world of UK Dentistry. 

As long as you are signed into the site, anyone from the profession can add events, seminars, training and exhibitions to the Event List. We believe this is an exciting addition to the dental landscape. Firstly it is a great way of promoting an event and secondly it makes the profession aware of events taking place close to them or that there is a specific course taking place, that potentially they would not have been aware of.  We hope it can become a really handy resource for the dental community.

How to use?

Once logged into the site, the dental calendar tab drops down to offer the option of “adding an event” as the image below demonstrates.

Once the tab is clicked you can then add the event by following the form, which is easy to use and should only take a matter of minutes. Pictures, the date and location are simple to enter. Once added the event is then added to the event list and can be viewed by the whole dental community.

Currently events can be shared on Twitter and Google plus, which means that you can publicise the event to the wider dental world.

Going forward we will also use the twitter handle of @DentalCalendar to publicise when something is added to the calendar. Please get following!

Future Use?

The calendar will take some time to become established and used widely. Once it is used regularly, we envisage the calendar being used in a number of ways. 

• Featured events – for a small fee, organisations could feature their event on the calendar and ensure it gets maximum exposure.
• Ticket Sales – Places on courses could be booked and paid for on the GDPUK Site. GDPUK would act as a ticket agent and help an organisation with the sales of the tickets to a particular event.
• Specific Banner Adverts – There is an opportunity for a dental organisation to sponsor / associate their business with the calendar. To discuss the opportunity further please get in contact with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• For the upcoming Contract Reform Roadshow in Manchester on the 30^th Jan, the dentists attending have been registering through the GDPUK Site. This has so far attracted a few hundred registrations, a figure that is continually rising. More information can be found here about the roadshow. Feel free to register. 

Thanks for reading about the dental calendar. We hope you enjoy using the calendar. If you have any feedback about the calendar or have any further questions. Please get in touch. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To register for the largest dental community in the UK and full use of the calendar, please follow this link - https://www.gdpuk.com/forum/user/register

This period of low interest rates in the UK combined with changes in society and demographics have had some long term effects which are far from coming to roost. Since the financial collapses of 2008, UK Government policies have been to minimize the economic shock; people have been protected by saving the banks from failure and also by continuing low interest rates. 

History tells us that economic policies designed to insulate from short term shock tend to come with a long term consequences. But no-one has thought about a cohort affected more badly by this economic effect, hard working young adults. They have to deal with high property prices and high rents, less secure employment together with rock bottom interest rates if they manage to save, but high interest rates if they have credit card or pay day debts.

Will there be friction between the younger generation whose lives are markedly different from their parents in so many ways? There hasn't been a revolution or even a rebellion, just a combination of changes of circumstance in society at large – greater access to further education, starting careers later on average, starting families later, so many important aspects of life have been shifted by a few years.

One piece of good economic news in the UK, along with growth of the economy, has been the gradual fall in the employment rate in late 2013 and early 2014. However, in UK dentistry, this seems to be in reverse, through unintended consequences, and the combination of many seemingly unaccountable people acting in what they think is the right way, but having a terrible effect on the lives of young dental graduates.

In our dental profession we are now seeing, possibly for the first time in history, unemployment of newly qualified dental professionals. What is now known as the Dental Foundation Training [DF1] scheme, which was commenced as an educational process to help young graduates move to the pressures of working as a trusted professional from those of a dental student. This scheme has now, over many years, become a requirement that dental graduates must complete before they can do any work within the NHS. They have to have a "performer number", obtained by joining then completing this scheme. 

Interestingly, graduates of dentistry from the EU do not have to gain this requirement in order to work in the NHS. However, in the present national foundation dentistry scheme, EU dental graduates have equal standing with UK graduates, and each year some of those from the UK miss out, and cannot work. They may reapply but can only enter the recruitment process twice. After that, if they fail to get through an interview and psychometric assessments, they can have no future career in NHS dentistry EVER.

In the interview process which started in November 2013, with results issued in mid January with no fanfare nor press release, it is estimated [and this is a SHOCKING figure] that more than 10% of UK dental graduates have been left with no employment next summer when they graduate.

What a waste of studying, hours of hard work and sacrifice. Students these days live from loans, those qualifying presently have student debts around £30,000 with potentially no prospect of working in dentistry. Last year, tuition fees rose to £9,000 per annum, so those qualifying soon will have debts of £60,000 or more, yet carry this risk of not having a job when they pass their university examinations and graduate. A further insult is the 18 month rule, where applicants have two chances to apply and go through the process. If then unsuccessful, the artificial rule that bars them from following their career in the UK adds to the injustice.

In addition, this pre-judgment of their chance of a career is insulting and morale sapping, to say the least, before even sitting for their final exams, which seems to relegate those exams, which are the true arbiter of whom is fit to practice, not this FD1 assessment.

Dental colleagues rightly ask where is the British Dental Association in all this? Cannot the dental schools do something – teams of staff there must be angrier than GDPs. And what about COPDEND, who administer this – you must know what is going on? Why can someone take the problem by the horns and change something to benefit UK dental graduates and exclude EU nationals qualifying elsewhere in the EU? Even if you believe there is a risk of breaking an EU law, surely that is better than wrecking the careers and morale of hundreds of young dentists, prejudging the results of their university finals?

The inter-generational friction I referred to earlier might surface in the dental school. Morale must have been affected by this unjust system, university staff must feel that action must be taken for the sake of those they educate. 

This is now the third year of this disastrous situation – something must be done, someone must take responsibility, and make the system fair for UK dental students.

1. COPDEND DF1 Policy statement: http://www.copdend.org/content.aspx?Group=foundation&Page=foundation_policystatement
2. GDPUK forum discussion: https://www.gdpuk.com/forum/gdpuk-forum/vt-national-recruitment-process-opens-9971 [this page requires a GDPUK login]

2014 is developing as quite an interesting year if January is anything to go by.  

Check your straps Mesdames et Messieurs. The ride is getting rough.

For a public letter to have any onward effect, a body of opinion must develope into an irresistable call for change.  

ITV's Daybreak in fuelling further the debate produced contrasting performances. The passion of Tony Kilcoyne winning hearts and minds was evidently enough for wee Lorraine ... But the seat shuffling discomfort of John Milne was sadly not the supportive powerhouse that the profession needs from its leadership.  Maybe he needs to get off that fence.  The BDA's PR release, reminding us all of the power of the pilots, suggests that you can kick the GDPC's door down, but the deals are already being done for the new Contract Reform.

If GDPUK is anything to go by, there most certainly is a developing momentum.If the lack of response from the DH, robust or not,is as deafenaing as such political avoidance would normally be considered, I think it fair to say that Dr Kilcoyne and his band of merry men may have found a weak point.

So what's in the pot, cooking at this time?

We have the demand for DH honesty about what is or is not available under the NHS - if mixed practice is to continue, definition of the boundaries and rules is a must - a deal breaker if you will.  Austerity measures in wider Government surely mean the timing is right for a properly defined basic service.  It simply cannot be anything else.

We have the terrible scandal of  Foundation Training and the lack of availability of places - only this week we read a powerful comment on GDPUK from a graduate colleague who has fallen foul of the CoPDenD Stasi for a second year.  Given the EU regulations, Foundation Training as a compulsory requirement must be dead in the water surely?

on an aside, apparently the GDC think the the NHS is the Gold Standard. Yes I splutterred into my cornflakes too!

Here's Version 1 of the  shopping list then:

• A defined core service for NHS funding
• A clearly defined set of limits to permit the business of dentistry to have mixed income streams, the NHS being one of them
• Scrapping of the discriminatory NHS FD Training requirement and the National scheme, and wind up CoPDenD
• Revert FD to locally organised and locally executed; remove opposition ot privately funded early years training by the profession - allow Private VT to develope.

That'll do for this month.  Lets see what next month holds!

References:

See ITV interviews again:

http://www.itv.com/daybreak/hot-topics/dentists-believe-nhs-targets-impact-on-care

FD1 scandal - please read this

https://www.gdpuk.com/forum/gdpuk-forum/vt-national-recruitment-process-opens-9971?start=930#p169631

A survey on NHS Dentistry which was hosted by GDPUK was featured this morning on the ITV Daybreak breakfast programme. 

This morning (16^th January 2014) a survey that was run on the GDPUK forum for the ITV Daybreak Programme was featured as headline news. Link to the ITV news story can be found here and the GDPUK News story here.

Daybreak contacted GDPUK a few days ago and we were able to get the survey posted to the forum within a number of hours. The survey was run in response to the letter posted by Dr Tony Kilcoyne BDS  in the Daily Telegraph a couple of weeks ago, on the “Big Lie”. Only NHS Dentists were able to complete the survey and 340 NHS Dentists, who are all GDPUK members, responded to the survey. This was an amazing response from the GDPUK community and shows firstly this topic is an area many dentists care deeply about and secondly how an online community make things happen on a short time span.  Thirdly it also shows the large audience that GDPUK attracts, the thread announcing the survey has had nearly 900 views and 58 replies within a few days!

The debate and discussion of the state of NHS Dentistry still has a long way to go but we feel proud that we have been involved in the formation of the “Big Lie” letter and also running the survey that was then featured on National TV news this morning. Thanks to Dr Tony Kilcoyne BDS and also the whole GDPUK community who continue to contribute to the forum on a daily basis. We feel it is a great example of a small social media platform, utilising the power of the digital world.

The GDPUK forum is free to join for all dentists and members of the dental profession. Please register here

If you would like to find out how you can engage with this dental community further, please get in touch with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Video coverage of Tony Kilcoyne on the Daybreak couch can now be viewed here

In the last few days, I have seen a three different things that have caught my attention when browsing the World Wide Web. I thought I would share them with you.

1.   Blog on Communities.

Jeff Bullas is a relatively well known blogger on all things social media. This weekend he published a guest blog by Michael Silverman titled “4 Reasons Why Brilliant Communities Are More Valuable than Your Social Media Strategy” The writer explains the reasons behind online communities being a great way for people from a certain niche to interact with each other on a secure platform. I was obviously attracted to the post because GDPUK is an online community but also because companies are presently very focused on social media but this blog offers a totally different way of how marketers engage with their audience. What do you think? Are communities more valuable than just focusing on social media?

2.   Bridge 2 Aid

Bridge2Aid is a dental charity based in Mwanza, Tanzania. They train rural-based Health Workers in developing countries, providing them with the skills, equipment and resources that they will need to provide emergency dental care in a world where a shocking 75% of the population currently do not have access to a dentist.

Due to circumstances beyond Bridge2Aid’s control, the charity needs to raise at least £50,000 before the end of March 2014 to ensure its vital work can continue. Please read more here. Unfortunately the charity was a victim of a sophisticated financial fraud and at the same time the charities main corporate sponsor is unable to keep funding the charity. Please follow this link if you would like to make a donation and support a worthwhile cause. At the time of writing nearly £15,000 has been donated in the space of a few days.

3.   Something different

I was taken to carmagazine.co.uk when browsing Facebook at the weekend. I often read the car magazine website but on this occasion a banner ad caught my eye. The ad was for Jaguar and I thought it was great, so please check it out. Looks like it was built on flash and has probably been done before elsewhere but is certainly a bit different. A sign that banner ads can be effective, especially when reaching the right audience?

Thanks for reading!

After some number crunching over the holiday period we were proud to discover that in 2013, the GDPUK forum had 958 different contributors. The fact that just under a thousand different members of the dental community have “put their head above the parapet“ during the year on the forum pages is a fantastic sign of the growth of the forum and the number of subjects that provide discussion in UK Dentistry.

Moving into 2014, we now have thousands of members who are part of the community. With just under a thousand people posting last year, there were thousands on the sidelines who quietly read the posts. They represent the silent majority who we can see in every community, they are part of it, they enjoy it, but they don’t get involved. If you would like to join the GDPUK community, please follow this link. The forum is free to join for all members of the dental profession. You will find the forum is a fantastic resource for advice, opinion and information on UK Dentistry.

Overall in 2013, we averaged 3300 visits a day to the site, the equivalent of the number of people who visit a UK Dental Exhibition in a day. The difference is that we are getting those numbers every day of the year! The site continues to publish exclusive news and shape the agenda of UK Dentistry. For example, GDPUK was used as a sounding board to compose the letter that was recently published in the Daily Telegraph - http://bit.ly/JKkA3J

GDPUK is free for dentists or dental professionals to join. The site earns revenue from dental focused organisations advertising on the forum, news, blogs or daily digest emails. If you would like to find out more about the advertising opportunities, please get in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thanks for everyone’s support and help in 2013, please continue to contribute, share and discuss all things dental. We look forward to an excellent 2014 for all and well over a thousand contributors to the GDPUK Forum!

If you would like to register for the site please follow this link - https://www.gdpuk.com/forum/user/register

To refer a colleague or friend to the site - https://www.gdpuk.com/more/refer-a-colleague-to-gdpuk

For information on how to advertise on GDPUK or to download a media pack - https://www.gdpuk.com/overview or alternatively please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who will be happy to help. We will also be visiting the Dentistry Show on Friday 28th February, please get in touch if you would like to meet up and have a coffee. 

What?

Happy New Year y’awl. For those long-breakers among you, welcome back to the coal face, and the dark days of gyms, diets and abstinence.  Not long now and it’ll all be chocolate!

And boy,  has the dust been a’disturbed in  your absence.

You see... "the letter" is out.  See the link below if you wish to read it, and read it you should.  The cat is out of the bag but is there a mouse to be caught? The gauntlet has been thrown down, but will the DH accept the challenge or merely hide under the armour of political expediency? You decide - and if you choose to act, just maybe you will.

So what?

Will anything change? Only if you truly believe with a passion in your profession. Only if that passion is strong enough to make you feel you want to change something.  Only if you can be bothered to make your voice heard at the GDPC.  Only if you call your MP to account. But please do NOT do nothing.

Dr Alun Rees has blogged powerfully on the subject at http://theincisaledge.co.uk/2014/01/02/basic-british-nhs-dentistry/

Elephant and Whatsit ?

The DH have replied and it has duly been published by the Dentistry web portal at http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/open-letter-slams-nhs-dentistry 

If it was a table tennis ball, it would be an unplayable serve with all the controlled spin! Although, to give the DH credit they “try” to collect “factual data” and are referring to the said data in what might be described as a strangely neutral way.

As denials go, a wet kipper thrown from 20 yards would have been more effective.  Perversely encouraging I think.  Anyone might think the CDO has been awaiting this challenge for a long time.

What now?

Dr Tony Kilcoyne , with his boundless energy and commitment, has highlighted two major issues which the DH and inter alia the CDO England refuse to address:

Ask yourself: what can you do to move the DH start their road to better ways in 2014, by admitting these two truths publicly:

1. The NHS Dentistry System in England cannot possibly provide for ALL the clinical needs of ALL their population fully.

2. The NHS Dentistry System in England cannot possibly provide ALL clinical care & treatments to the highest standards available, for all their population too.

I say again - what now?

As the quiet lurking kinda readers who are happy being below the parapet,  I think there is a job for you here.

If you agree with the essence of the argument here, tell your patients. Let them know YOU care about them and what the Government system does to your practice.

If you agree that we need a proper definition of what IS available under the NHS and what is NOT, call your LDC rep.  Unless of course you remain content to see your mixed practice options shrink back again ...

E-mail John Milne at the BDA GDPC

and copy all correspondence to Dr Barry Cockcroft, CDO England.

Having opened the can of worms, we do now have to stick our hand in and clean the can out.  In my opinion, we have until the end of March to achieve the changes needed for the 2015 Contract Reform.

Tin hats everyone.. Tally ho, we're going in.

Letter at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/10546044/The-public-should-know-of-the-dangerous-decay-of-NHS-dentistry-in-England.html

Article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10545878/NHS-dentistry-is-unfit-for-purpose-professionals-warn.html

Other references:

1. The Francis Report – Chairman states:
"They (patients) were failed by a system which ignored the warning signs and put corporate self interest and cost control ahead of patients and their safety.”
http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/report

2. The third most common medical reason for any child occupying a Hospital Bed in England, is still rotten teeth!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4699838/Tooth-decay-third-most-common-reason-for-children-to-be-admitted-to-hospital.html

3. Dental Adult Health Survey shows 45% of Adults have at least one 4mm deep gum pocket that’s associated with deeper gum disease (BPE level 3 where worst possible BPE level is a 4 score!)
http://www.esds.ac.uk/doc/6884/mrdoc/pdf/6884theme2_disease_and_related_disorders.pdf

4. Dentistry planning is only based on ‘visible’ obvious decay holes in major surveys. This is totally inadequate by NOT using modern techniques for hidden decay detection between teeth like X-rays or other detection methods. Such survey results or conclusions are thus unreliable and invalid for planning.
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/adhtechnical_information.pdf

5. NHS was too powerful to criticise, says Chairman of the CQC Regulator.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/laura-donnelly/

We thought we would reminisce over the popular dental news stories published by GDPUK in 2013. Overall in 2013, we have published 286 different news stories.

We have focused on the articles which as well as having a large number of hits, they also make our top ten because they caught the imagination of the forum and the wider dental community. It is unsurprising that the majority of the articles chosen for the top ten, are an indication of ongoing issues, politics and controversies in UK dentistry that are likely to rumble on till 2014 and beyond....

1.       Olympic Health Survey – news story published on the surprisingly poor oral health of Olympic Athletes - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1430-olympic-dental-problems-revealed

2.       Problems at the BDA – An example of a story that caused pages of debate on the forum pages and will there be more to come?  - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1388-bda-to-make-staff-redundant

3.       NHS / Private Gaming – Another extremely popular / contentious issue on the GDPUK forum – This news item was about a dentist who got struck off for “gaming” https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1335-dentist-struck-off-for-gaming

4.       Teeth Whitening - A number of articles published on the issue, something that is still happening illegally, will we see this subject reappear in 2014? https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1303-gdc-stance-on-whitening-upheld & https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1292-more-moves-to-eradicate-illegal-tooth-whitening & https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1230-stop-illegal-whitening-debates-at-the-dentistry-show

5.       NHS Pilot Scheme – This is an area we will all be watching in 2014, the direction of NHS Dentistry is still unclear and will lead to continued debate next year - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1210-shortlist-for-new-dental-pilot-practices-announced

6.       Corporate Dentistry – Corporate Dentistry continues to dominate the landscape in UK Dentistry, next year it is expected that supermarkets will look to expand their dental coverage. Oasis Dental Care sold for £185m - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1256-oasis-dental-care-sold-for-185m

7.       Direct Access – An area of dentistry that is still being understood and digested but the BDA’s response was strong - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1254-direct-access-decision-misguided-says-bda

8.       HTM01-05 amended – https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1259-2013-version-of-htm01-05-published

9.       Dentist Commit Suicide – A topic that unfortunately does not go away, with a number of recent cases being in the news - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1299-bda-calls-for-inquiry-into-dentist-s-suicide

10.   Dental Graduates – It was confirmed that UK Graduates would be given preference for Foundation Training – Common Sense Prevailed - https://www.gdpuk.com/news/latest-news/1381-uk-graduates-to-be-given-preference-for-foundation-training

Thanks for having a look at our top ten news stories published by GDPUK in 2013. Next year we would expect to see similar topics reappear with many issues in UK Dentistry still to be resolved. Watch this space for further GDPUK Exclusives!

Please let us know if you think we have missed important dental news from 2013?

What do you expect to see in the dental news in 2014? Predictions welcome...

On a lighter note, dentist Abi Sampa who was one of the stars of The Voice is still pursuing her singing career. Story can be found here and on twitter @Abi_Sampa

Advertorial Opportunities with GDPUK in 2014...

Our new Advertorial section is a great opportunity to communicate product developments and/or launches to the UK dental community.

Our Product Updates section has been popular in 2013 and the articles have achieved thousands of hits. These articles have highlighted products, partnerships and services that are new to the constantly evolving dental market.

After a successful trial in 2013 with our BDTA Dental Showcase guide, in 2014 we are looking to produce editorial features as well on product / service categories throughout the year. Published in a blog format, they provide a great opportunity to showcase what your company is producing or supplying. For example in January 2014 we will be publishing a number of articles on implantology. There is still space in the January feature, so please get in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like to feature. In 2014 we will also run guides to the Dentistry Show, BDA Conference and the BDIA Dental Showcase. Below is the full table of our plans for each “featured” month. If you would like to feature in one of the sections, please get in touch and further information will be provided.

What on earth is going on in dentistry? 

Is it me?  Has the pace of prospective change suddenly become turbo-charged?

It is worth reminding the profession and its representatives that by and large, in GDP we are NOT employed. We are independent contractors.  So why do the DH and our academic colleagues keep trying to treat us as though we are their whipping boys. 

If you are an associate, I reckon you might be worrying about the lie of the tea leaves.  Ever fancied re training as a Therapist?, Sorry to say , but it might be a good investment.

If you are a practice owner, under the NHS, the Ides of March 2015 look an ominous date.  Your business is dependent upon Government funding; you are NOT employed and yet you are being treated as an employee.  Is it really worth the [soon to be emasculated] pension?

As a private practice owner, are the Government REALLY going to impose rules to eliminate your freedom to practice the way you see fit?  You have the freedom to plan and the capacity to respond. But there are massive changes a’coming.  Bone up ... you have been warned.

In no particular order we have

• ·         The CDO stating that NHS dental care will continue to be an unspecified [and ergo unlimited] commitment.
•           Piltos continuing to point to disastrous Patient Charge Revenue allied to the "It can only work with Therapists"  big picture.
• ·         Suddenly there is a proposal to break up the skill base for GDP into “Tiers” – and as many are already wondering, with associated ‘registration and accreditation’ costs.  Allowing Quangocrat driven deskilling is by any description professional suicide.
• ·         The Chairman of the GDPC starting to play some cards as the negotiations continue for “Contract Reform”.
• ·         There seems to be a groundswell of academic attempt to wield influence over the activities of GDPs –from Prof Steele’s changes underway to Dr Chate at the RCS Edinburgh starting to flag GDPs activities in simple orthodontics

Well, I might be a cynical old git, but I reckon the Dept of Health horse has probably already bolted.  I think it highly likely that we are about witness a pre-planned  move to the date of Contract Reform.  Standby for change and press releases on a quarterly basis. Standby for the BDA being outflanked and out-manoeuvred as the soul of dentistry is once agin under threat.  Having a Big Stick is of no use against an out-of-reach elephant.

I reckon the purpose of all this phoney consultation is simply to drag the profession along with a mouldy carrot.

If, as a profession we do not like what Prof Steele’s changes are presenting, and do not think that these changes will either benefit our patients or our businesses, and our associate colleagues, we have a duty to act.

We have a duty to say NO.

The BDA has a duty to say NO

We have a follow on duty to carry our patients with us in this Brave New World.

Its looks like Christmas 2013 will be line-in-the-sand time folks.

Which version of Brave New World do you want to be part of?   The Government’s or your own?

Do you want someone else whipping you at their pace or do you want to control how your career and business evolves?

Strap in guys and girls, the ride is getting bumpy.

It may all end in tiers

In his independent review NHS dental services in England, Jimmy Steele placed advanced care at the top of the pyramid he created for prioritisation, and care pathways determined how patients might scale this structure to reach the pinnacle.

OK, so there I was, sat in my surgery having my little Monday morning meltdown. Through the blur of tears I could just make out the figure of my practice manager who had guessed that all was not well. Between sobs I just about managed to get across what I was feeling at that moment. PM was understanding, and went straight to my PC to review the daylist. Within a couple of minutes PM had determined which patients could be rebooked, blocked some time out and sat down to discuss the day with me.
We agreed that the patients PM had selected (long appointments but non-urgent – no risk of decay/deterioration – and unlikely to moan about the change) could be rebooked and some of the space freed used for the inevitable emergency appointments which would have to come from my absent colleague. I was the only dentist in the building and would have to try to manage the day as best I could.
For those who have raised the question in the forum, yes I am in primarily NHS practice, so service provision under the terms of the contract has to be managed.

I duly went to see my medical practitioner the next Monday. I’m fortunate that my GP runs early morning sessions on some days, so I was able to get an appointment before work.

I felt some trepidation at the visit, in some part to my colleague’s earlier insistence against talking to his GP. His reasons were that “he would just stuff me full of pills, and wouldn’t think of me as a professional”. Frankly, my colleague couldn’t have been more wrong!

My GP was understanding, honest and helpful, to the point that I broke down crying in front of him as I was so glad to get some of the weight off my chest to someone other than my wife.

He asked about how everything had happened, listened intently, and advised me that my wife was indeed right in insisting I seek help. He actually phrased it as “I’m divorced, so I normally wouldn’t admit that a wife was right, but in this case she’s bang on.” It lightened my mood immensely.

He did indeed give me some antidepressants – a low dose – and urged me to try them for at least 2 weeks before questioning their efficacy. He also gave me the numbers of 2 counselling services I could access via the NHS, and subtly hinted at which one was going to deal with me more efficiently (Hint: the one NOT run directly by the NHS).

He stated that he would not sign me off at that time, as he was pretty sure I would ignore the recommendation for some time off in any case (let’s face it – self employed, practice to run, duty of care and all that jazz – he was right).

My GP also asked about my level of self-medication (i.e. alcohol, drugs). My response was “No more than usual”, which of course prompted a much deeper discussion of drinking habits. I consider myself lucky in not having what some may term an “addictive personality”, in that whilst I do enjoy a couple of beers or bottle of wine with dinner, and do have the odd blow out with friends, I can equally go for weeks without touching alcohol at all. I did smoke a bit in my teens, but it was never something I felt I HAD to do. I did partake of some illicit substances while at Uni, and – to paraphrase many noted politicians – I did inhale. Again, it was never what one may term a habit.

As I noted in my first entry, one of the stressors for me was my colleague’s frequent absences. I half joked to my GP on that first appointment that it would be typical if I received a call on my way to work advising that my colleague was “ill”.

You can guess where the story goes from here can’t you?

I was driving to the practice when the phone rang. I could see it was his number on the car display.

I had a little meltdown.

I had to pull over into a bus lane as I was shaking and crying so hard I couldn’t see to drive. I didn’t answer the phone. I couldn’t. It never crossed my mind that he could have been calling for another reason.

I pulled myself together after about 20 minutes and continued to the practice. Upon arrival I could see his car wasn’t there, and could hear the staff making calls to cancel his patients as I walked through the door.

I walked into my surgery, asked my nurse to give me 5 minutes, and had another little meltdown.

To be continued……

[Almodovar has replied to some comments in the GDPUK forum made in that  forum.]

When Andrew Lansley drafted his Health and Social Care Bill, being married to a Doctor obviously drew his focus away from other healthcare providers. The structures were all there for GP commissioning and the formation of Clinical Commissioning Groups, even the removal of PCTs and transfer to NHS England and Area Teams. We can argue if any of this amounted to "no more top down reorganisation of the NHS" as promised in the manifesto, or the most challenging time anyone working within NHS management had ever faced.

It is hard to remember when someone at NHS England twigged or tapped Sir David on the shoulder and said what are we doing with dentists? Are they supposed to be part of this clinically lead new NHS? Someone somewhere found the fag packet, and I think it was John Milne's sister Helen Hirst that wrote the first plan for Local Professional Networks on the back of it. Helen had hardly got the ink dry before she passed the empty fag box to Sam Illingworth; before the final details were released both had jumped ship to the CCGs leaving others at NHS England to finalise.

Of course by this stage pilots had been invited to test the model, this too lacked direction with a "get on and see what you can do" mantra. Even the regular teleconferences to see what was happening and share experiences fell apart amongst the maelstrom of the de structuring of PCTs and the reapplying for posts.

By February and with the impending changes just a few weeks away, the NHS Commissioning Board (remember them?) released Securing Excellence in Commissioning in NHS dentistry was published. Within its pages contained the framework for LDNs and some examples of what the pilots had achieved. Some like in Manchester under the stewardship of Colette Bridgman clearly had an effect, albeit she struggled to fund her projects. Others exampled in the document like the reorganisation of Oral Medicine services in Birmingham perhaps needed placing in the fictional section of any library, but highlighted how little many of the pilots achieved in their lifespan.

Well six months in, we have recruitment processes in all the Area Teams and in others they have appointed a Chair. Many of these posts have been taken by LDC people, some have continued to wear both hats, and for me I am not convinced that's possible. As far as I am aware many of these newly appointed Chairs are yet to be paid for their new job, apparently due to a HR issue at NHS England, it seems like LDNs have taken them by surprise!

Of course the challenges for the LDN Chairs is to assist depleted commissioning teams in delivering national strategy and developing structural changes in service delivery locally, all within perhaps one afternoon a week. Not only is that the challenge but the budget given to them is somewhere in the region of £40,000, a share of a pot of £120,000 secured for Local Professional Networks for dentistry, pharmacy and opticians. The CDO describes this as "seed money" to allow the LDN to grow and show its usefulness, perhaps he is providing the fertiliser?

It really shows the importance of dentistry within the NHS when it's funding is pennies per patient population for an LDN compared to the £25 per patient that CCGs get for management costs. Clearly if members of the dental team are to be involved in LDNs, they are to be expected to do this with benevolence and with no remuneration; it's clinical leadership on the cheap.

As the autumnal fall returns once again and the ominous portent of a Comet Ison[1] in the morning sky passes I am minded to wonder at our innate ability to disagree.  There is a really intriguing book out there called   Them and Us: How Neanderthal predation created modern humans by Danny Vendramini  [2] Basically, our behaviour is nothing new!

The BDA saga has not gone away, we are told – well, actually we are NOT told …  but the vox pop of internet chat suggest that those in office at the BDA are running in internal disagreement, and of course all the outsiders like myself are far better placed to run the show.  There is no agreement it seems, and we are polarised into them and us.

Then of course there is how to deal with ‘the problem patient’.  Not only do we all differ, separating into the “This is how to do it” camp on the one hand, and the “No you fool, do it this way” camp on the other.   Never mind that the poor bloody patient is always wrong.  Them is always right and Us is never wrong.

Orthodontics appears to be generating a fair share of divisionary comment:  Far from everyone synergising to the wider benefit of the patient community and for the greater good, we just have to bicker and squabble over long term or short term, GDP or specialist , ultra modern self ligating or out of date elastics.  Throw in a spooful of commercial self interest and the fuse is lit for a right royal bust up.

What would the public think?    Oh – them and us again!

There is a fine line between appropriate professional disagreement and internecine  warfare. We must as a profession beware of breaching it ... if we actually care. Maybe we just like a good fight!

Gawd ‘elp the poor old GDPs if the BDA and BOS combine forces …

Seriously:  who will draw this disparate medley of headstrong prima donnae professionals together? 

If we fight amongst ourselves, the Governments work is done.

Ah … now there is the Ultimate “Them and Us”.

I blame Comet Ison.  Enjoy Thanksgiving, don't all fight over the Turkey now. That would far too Neanderthal ...

[1]  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25001732

[2]  http://www.themandus.org/   
Them and Us by Danny Vendramini
With acknowledgement to the author for the image

I was surprised to see the advice we give our patients has not changed much in over 40 years! I am reading a book called “The Tooth Trip” that was written by dentist Thomas McGuire in 1972; he describes the same prevention based dentistry we practice today. This book was written for the public to understand oral diseases and their role in preventing it.

Some of the book is way off the mark with recipes for making homemade toothpaste with Sage, Myrrh and powdered roots. Making toothbrushes from twigs and sticks does not sound like the best use of an hour of your time. What resonated so strongly with me was the descriptions of self-examination of your mouth and emphasis on prevention and working together with your dentist. A whole chapter was on dental emergencies and what constitutes a real emergency- severe or recurrent bleeding or severe pain not relived by painkillers. Just getting your patients to read this chapter alone would save thousands of wasted dental appointments. There was sensible honest advice on how and why teeth can hurt and how you can prevent it and work together with your dental team to stop it recurring.

In our modern age, if we educate our patients in the causes of dental disease and how it is entirely preventable, they too could have healthy mouths and lower dental bills. Despite the fact that most of this information is freely available on the internet or in the leaflets that some dental practices give out, not much has changed. Why is that?

I feel that until the information is specifically tailored to our patents and they can see the benefit from following that specific advice, they will switch off. If you promote the fact that you fix teeth, they will just come and expect you to fix them. This is where modern dental teams come in. We need to genuinely listen to our patients, do not interrupt them, let them get their whole story out. Examine their mouth, show them the evidence of disease in a clear and non-judgemental way. Explain their options and how as a team, you can return their mouth to health. Make them understand that without them, all your treatment will fail. Spending extra time now will save hours of treatment in the future and help educate a generation that loves going to the dentist. All good dentists want their work to be appreciated and to last a life-time.

Four Dental sins from the 1970’s that Dentists still do to this day:

1. Leaflet avoidance. Handing your patients reading matter to explain your treatment and asking them to go home to go through it. Nothing beats a face to face discussion where you allow them time to discuss their personal fears and questions. Leaflets should be only a back-up once the conversation has taken place.

2. Technical jargon. Using dental terminology or complex words to explain your diagnosis and treatment. All professions have jargon. The skilled dentists explain it in a language that that specific patient will understand.

3. Carrying out treatment whilst discussing the patient’s options. No-one can fully concentrate when lying on their back with theirs mouth open or having treatment carried out. Stop, sit the patient up and have a face to face conversation.

4. Bulldozing. Talking it through you your patient until they are worn down and just say yes. Nothing is life or death that you need to decide there and then. Place a temporary filling and then explain the options; pros, cons and cost. Then let them go away and think about it.

How are you going to make the most of your patients next tooth trip?

Photo by Jenn Durfey, licence info

James Goolnik is a practising Dentist and his book “Brush” donates 100% of the profits to Dentaid. He recently led a team of 8 dental professionals to Malawi to install two dental chairs, equipment and deliver skills transfer workshops from these proceeds. He is a trustee of the charity “Heart your Smile”.

www.jamesgoolnik.com

So,
Here I sit, staring at the words I’ve been writing in my diary of the last year, with tears rolling down my cheeks.
These are not tears of joy, for there is little in the words before me.
The past year has been sheer hell. Not for any one reason, but a multitude of big & little things. These sneaked up, built walls & built ditches but never built bridges, until the “inevitable” happened.
I spiralled into anxiety, depression and to the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Those of you who read and digest the news and views of dentistry at large will perhaps have noticed the recent Private Dentistry Awards¹.  A rip roaring time in London for all who attended.  A sore head or two the next day I’ll bet.

The recent announcement of the winners serves to highlight the lengths that many colleagues will go to strive for excellence. They are also extraordinary in that they can find the time to document their activities and seek to obtain external recognition. To all who entered and indeed were in the awards, heartfelt congratulations.

To all of you who did not enter, I am sure I am not alone in noticing that the effect rubs off.

You read about how others do things.  You read about ideas and marketing. You introduce these things in your own way into your own practice.  Just because you do not enter does not mean you are not a winner.

Of course, the clue is in the name – none of these particular practices lay claim to  providing dental care under the NHS, although how many of them employ NHS associates remains to be detailed.

But as we witness NHS England purging their Performers List with suspect letters of a dodgy tone threatening removal arbitrarily simply because it suits someone in London’s database management skills, it seems to me that there is no doubt about this: Beware the false security that the Government offers.

Left to its own devices, Dentistry as a business and a profession would make a far better job of marketing its services at the right price, in the right place, to best suit a particular patient base than any mish-mash of Reds, Ambers and Greens that the Government’s Department of Health lackeys can come up with. Why it is that our academic colleagues often fail to see or understand this paradigm remains a mystery.  Are we all really that imbued with social guilt so that any talk to do with the NHS simply proves it is culturally embedded?

That must be the counterpart message of the BDA as it emerges leaner, poorer, but fitter and raring to “engage”.

By all means engage with the DH, but the BDA must lay out the subtle threat that we do have to courage to do it ourselves, and will do it better.

Now that is a profession in a win-win position. The winners of such a brave approach would be everyone, patients included.

1        http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/smiles-and-success-uk%E2%80%99s-private-practices

2        http://www.privatedentistry.co.uk/awards/

At the recent BDTA Showcase, we had some great meetings with potential advertisers. The GDPUK Team really enjoyed exhibiting at the show, it was a great experience, something we would like to repeat.

Last week, I sent a number of follow up emails after the Show and made phone calls. By the end of the busy week, I started thinking about why companies from the dental trade should advertise with GDPUK and why we should be part of their marketing plan. I have to admit, it is not a question I have thought enough about but over the weekend, I got my thinking cap on.

So this weekend, after my feet and body had recovered from Showcase, I started to think about the question in the subject line, below are 8 reasons that GDPUK can be used as an effective marketing tool, please feel free to add to them and hopefully we can get a feel for what we are doing well or not offering enough of! All feedback would be appreciated!

1.    We have thousands of members using the site every day – GDPUK is the largest online community of dentists in the UK. Dentists proactively look for information on GDPUK to inform their decisions.

2.    Target Audience – If you want Dentists as customers, we can prove that your target audience is using the GDPUK site every day

3.    Helps your budget work harder when marketing to Dentists – Reach the dentists on their network at exactly the point when they are actively seeking advice / guidance to make an important decision for their practice or career. 

4.    Word of Mouth. The UK’s most influential dentists will talk about your brand on the forum – Create the right message on GDPUK and this will spread to other social media sites, creating improved awareness and recognition of your brand.

5.    Benefit from our knowledge of the Dental Profession – We’ve been around for over 15 years, we understand how dentists think and react, this means we are well placed to support you with your aims and we can share our insight into the dental profession.

6.    Marketing on the site can be done in a number of ways; introduce a new product, improve brand awareness, special "GDPUK" offers, data collection, sample requests, focus groups

7.    Accountability. We give our partners, a full report on the number of clicks received every week, plus the number of impressions the ad receives. This is an effective way to see how the ad performs.

8.    Adaptability. Unlike in the printed media, ads can be changed; partners can experiment with a number of messages over the period they have booked.

No matter what business or industry you’re in, if you deal with Dentists, then GDPUK has to be part of your marketing plan. Social Media is now part of the dental landscape and it’s important that you can get your message across and be part of the discussion.

By reading this, we hope you now get a better understanding of how we can help with your marketing plans, if you would like to know more, please get in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Jonny on 07786571547. 

So.. its all over. That’s it for another year.  

Farewell BDTA Showcase ....   Sadly true

Farewell BDA problems. ....   Sadly untrue

I find myself intrigued by the numbers. About 4000 dentists attend, and about 14000 ‘others’. It seems there is a massive networking opportunity here, and perfectly positioned at the centre of the country, and yet barely 20% of owner dentists attend. I wonder what would make it a “MUST” – maybe a GDC standard?

To those of you who did indeed support our industry, well done.  Your investment in the future of good dentistry, at your risk, using your money [well maybe with a little help from a finance company] speaks volumes for the ethics of dentists.  If you did not make that purchase decision, perhaps you were put off by a pushy salesman who reckoned he or she knew it all?

When the new Government contract comes around, you will be fully IT’d up … won’t you?  Do it now, build your IT Ark  BEFORE the storm.

It was also of course an opportunity for some big organisations to get down and dirty. 

The GDC stand saw a steady  passing of interested people, many of them DCPs …  I wonder if like me you feel nervous going up to them – should you be anonymous just in case?  Can they really call you to account for just ‘having a go’ at the stand? I sincerely hope not.

GDPUK of course ‘trailblazingly’ set the standard for shiny shoes - but I never did find an answer to how to get shiny white crocs in the surgery!  It was THE place to meet and chat though.  If there was a centre to the Showcase, the GDPUK stand was it.  Just like it’s the centre of open opinion now. And if you have one, about anything, please come online and jot it down.

Talking of pushy salesmen, the BDA missed a trick in Birmingham, choosing instead to simply whip up a bit of spin with their racket by issuing yet another “All part of the grand plan” statement, care of the Chief Executive and PEC Chairman.  Good on you, lads.

Dodgy salesmen eh? You can smell that reptilian oil from a mile off.

With thanks to Matt at The Telegraph for the image. The original may be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?cartoon=10371411&cc=10345727

Food for thought from the Bank of England:

In the week where the UK dental industry was tied up at the NEC, the Chief Economist of the Bank of England gave a question and answer session to the world using the medium of Twitter. It appears he made a good job of it. Some commentators criticised the fact that the answers were standard PR fare, but others realised he did, in fact, release some crucial financial information.

Other companies in the world of high finance feel forced by their regulators to only release critical news via official channels. Twitter does not count as "official".

So did the Bank of England break its own and other regulator's rules? Newspapers were once new, as were radio and TV, the world realised these were tools of communication, and engaged with those media.

Let's turn to the consumer field, where large retail and customer facing companies use Twitter and other social media to enhance their customer service operations. They have teams of people, sometimes responding 24/7, to show that they are giving the best customer service and that they are listening. Ask a few people at Dental Showcase, I did, and they all have a story. "My train was cancelled, I had paid through the nose in advance, and I missed a very important meeting, what will the railway operator do about it?" Or " My heating is broken, we have a small baby, an engineer to fix our heating in seven days time is not good enough".

Do have a look in the social media - those two comments are only a small example of the complaints aired daily, and addressed to the relevant companies. In those cases Virgin Trains and British Gas did reply, and fixed the problems rapidly. The responding company hopes the complainant returns to the same social medium to say how great the service recovery was.

So, back to dentistry.

Dental practices and their teams do face the social media and partake, they take the risk that a complaint may be aired, but they know they must respond to this, and respond seriously.

However, some of the dental industry are scared of GDPUK, on whose website you are reading this blog. GDPUK gives dental professionals a platform to tell their colleagues [and only that limited group]  when they have had great service, and that sort of comment is rewarded by a magnified, greater uptake of that service. I know this is a true fact.

As well as sharing all sorts of news, information, questions and experiences, some dental professionals use GDPUK to tell their colleagues when they feel they have had bad service. Sometimes the complaint is only about what is perceived as poor service. The effect of this can be magnified, in the world of the isolated dental professional, when two or three other fellow professionals appear and confirm they too have had the same less than perfect experience. This is the power of the internet in the modern world, we all know it allows us to rapidly compare prices, compare services, and read reviews. Surely the winning technique for the dental companies, and other small businesses the world over, is to monitor those media, and if a problem occurs, respond in that medium, and try your best to give the best service possible. This could be a winning formula and may lead to positive results, and positive feedback, which in turn will create more sales.

I am convinced the modern companies who adopt this approach will be the winners in the long term. Censorship cannot win, but open-ness will.

Refs:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/bank-of-england/10388036/Bank-of-Englands-chief-economist-says-2014-rate-rise-very-unlikely-in-AskBoE-Twitter-chat.htm

Blog image by Gord Fynes, @gordasm. With thanks.

You know that change I mentioned last time  which is now is well and truly upon us ?  And to all you menopausal old geezer and gals, that is not what I refer to!

The green shoots of spring have begun their turn toward autumnal decay.  The nights draw in and so the darkness of Winter is approaching. There is a mistiness in the air. A murky shadow in the developing gloom. As the last light of the sun flickers, the web glitters with the silky net, ready to capture any unsuspecting prey.

The 9-legged predator that is GDC Standards has landed amongst us. But this is but a side story of evening reading material. Let me put that to one side as a “must” read !  The REAL story lies further down the street where the growing conditions are notably worse.

And so it is the case that The BDA departed the early part of 2013 brimming with the green shoots of optimism that a new era was beginning. Strategic Plans and New Membership structures had been planted seeded and watered. Sods of change had been ceremonially and publicly turned. The sun shone , it must have seemed, permanently upon the righteous, hereinafter known as The PEC Men.

And yet …

The year appears to be closing with the gloom of the unexpected. There has been a withering of such promised growth. This tale of dento-horticultural disaster is only emerging under the spotlight that is networking via GDP UK.  Were it not for such a group, you could cheerfully read the musings of the Chief Executive and believe that not only is everything green that is growing, but also that the Indian summer of new membership has produced some fine blossom, thank you.

In a perverse way, sometimes it takes a shock to resuscitate a dead body. One must hope that there is a defibrillating effect upon the Wimpole Street cognoscenti of the truth that is multiple redundancies and a major drop of in income, allied to an urgent need to realign the BDA business model. That’s shrink and contract to you and me.

Let’s just hope that the Dept of Health does not see the BDA’s 15% budget cut as leading the way forwards for the 2015 contract values.

The upcoming BDTA Show in Birmingham is cause for professional celebration of the industry that supports our work. Now that’s planting a positive idea, people.  Go spend the £200 you saved on your BDA membership on some decent kit.

Perhaps this time, there might also be an opportunity to disseminate news and discussion about the BDA on a wider basis.  If you are going, why not use your visit to drop by the GDP UK stand and catch up with the facts, and failing that have a good old gossip anyway. You won’t get much out of the BDA if current events are anything to go by! And make the most of it – who know what will happen to the Conference next year?

This tale of the unexpected may be the birth of a "new" BDA. At the very least we should hope that the BDA is "Renewed".

Let us all hope one shock is enough.

Now ... must check that list of my subscriptions for next year ...

Modern dentistry is as much a business as it is a profession dedicated to providing high standards of dental care. To maximise business potential it is only natural that you should seek to make cost savings in as many areas as possible. This may include making savings through reducing wastage, or doing things in a more time-effective way. It may also include cutting costs directly with suppliers, or raising the price of certain treatments in line with demand.

Make the most of your business services

Business services are one particular area of concern for many practices, as the cost of dealing with many different service providers can soon spiral out of control. To combat this, organisations such as dbg harness group buying power in order to negotiate substantial discounts with providers. These discounts often more than pay for the cost of membership alone, and when taken across a number of business services can make a significant impact on the practice accounts.

Credit card processing is one area in particular where dental practices can save huge amounts by joining a buying group that offers credit card processing with a lower negotiated fee. Depending on the size of your practice, the number of surgeries you run, and the level of treatments you offer, these discounts can range from hundreds to thousands of pounds. Many different providers will offer discounts on credit card processing. But it does pay to shop around and find the provider offering the best discount. Over the course of a year, even a very small difference in percentage rate can make a massive difference.

Waste management is another area where significant cost savings can be made. Finding the right company to work with here can be tough, and in the ideal world waste disposal companies should be experienced specifically in dentistry, and be able to offer complete peace of mind. Thankfully, there are providers out there offering discounted rates through membership and these discounts can be applied a number of different waste disposal packages for a complete flexible solution.

Finding extra savings

Aside from credit card processing and waste management, there are many other areas in which savings can be found. Telecommunications is one example where, percentage discounts are available for dbg members, and similarly, a number of document shredding providers also offer discounts for flexible document destruction solutions. Further savings can also be made when arranging practice insurance (including locum cover), accountancy services, energy, patient plans and recruitment services.

Another avenue through which savings can be obtained is in the area of employment law. Some companies will offer template contracts and legal forms completely free of charge,  of which they can be tailored to your meet your practice’s needs. These can range from employment contract templates to legal documents covering maternity leave and even employment disputes. Services such as these don’t just provide a saving in the short term. But in the long term if a problem should arise, you can potentially save thousands of pounds by having a set of contracts that can’t be questioned in a tribunal or court of law.

Help is at hand!

As all dental professionals will know, running a successful and profitable dental practice is no easy task. With so many different contractors to organise and working relationships to manage sometimes just finding a good business service provider alone is hard, and this is without even taking into account factors such as cost.

Finding a provider that offers a range of beneficial business services could save your practice money and valuable time as well.  With a little research, and some careful planning, there are certainly many savings to be made and discounts to be had out there. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look.

For more information call dbg on 01606 861 950,

Or visit www.thedbg.co.uk

Your practice doesn’t need to be in great trouble in order to benefit from business support. You might think you and your team are already doing a pretty good job, staying in the black, receiving few patient complaints and providing a quality service to the local community.

While this may be the case, it is also true that a few tweaks here and there to the management system or daily protocols may enable you to provide an even better service, or enjoy a larger turnover.

A business coach works with you to streamline and improve your practice processes and help you and your team work as efficiently and productively as possible. They can also help you define your future aims and goals as a practice, ensuring you have realistic expectations and practical systems in place to help you achieve those goals in the future.

Michelle Malone is a Practice Manager at Apex Dental Studio in Elgin, Scotland. While Michelle and her team had their own ideas on how to take their practice forward, she made the decision to source some outside guidance and make sure they were on the right track from the beginning.

“Since taking on an associate last year and a local NHS practice taking on extra patients we wanted to re-evaluate our practice to make sure we were offering the best service, while of course running an effective and profitable business,” explains Michelle. “We also needed ways to attractive new patients – while we had our own ideas about what we could do, we wanted to call upon the expertise of someone who could advise us on what really would work, and identify what needed changing.

“As a result we sourced the help of a business coach. We needed someone with the skills and experience to get straight to the point, and to make sure we were headed in the right direction.

“The coach visited our practice for a day, and it was great to receive advice designed specifically for our practice and our team. I also think it was great that the team were addressed directly with any issues and praise, rather than just hearing it through me.”

A good business coach of course has both experience and skills in a wide variety of areas, from finances, to staff training and treatment coordination. As one of their main aims was to bring in new patients to grow the practice, Michelle and her team were keen to focus on their marketing strategies.

“We wanted to concentrate on how we could take the practice forward as a team and really develop the business in the long-term,” says Michelle. “We had only recently started utilising social media for marketing and we knew that we needed an up-to-date website. Our business coach was able to work from our fundamental ideas and designs, and suggest ways of making them more effective for us. He was able to offer some fantastic advice on potential marketing campaigns – particularly with regards to how long they should be run for, which treatments we should promote, where they should be run and who we should be targeting.

“During the day, Nicci, our practice owner, and myself did have some one-on-one time with the coach to go through the business strategy. In these situations, I think it is important that you work with a professional you feel comfortable with and are really able to talk to. We were lucky to work with such a person, and we did in fact cover many areas that we hadn’t planned to bring up, which was really helpful. In the end however, we focused mainly on the KIPs of the business and how to apply these successfully, as well as how to implement effective marketing strategies.

“In the afternoon, our staff had the opportunity to air any of their own questions. Everything from ethical sales to patient communications and treatment coordination was brought up, and I think it was brilliant for each member of our team to get all the answers they needed.

“Since that day, we have begun employing the new protocols and ideas put in place that day, and we found that being able to contact our coach for on-going support has been a huge benefit to us. There is hard work still to be done, but the day with an expert definitely helped set us in the right direction.”

These ‘Discovery Days’ are designed to be the starting blocks of a long and successful practice. Such services are provided by leading business consultants at 7Connections, who will come to your practice and evaluate every aspect from a professional and practical point of view, before helping you and your team implement new ideas successfully.

If you think your practice could use a little refinement in order to really thrive, a business coach might just be the answer.

For more information about 7connections business coaching

please call 01647 478145

or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I have always been passionate about dentistry and providing the very best level of care for my patients. After several years of growth, it was time for my partners and I to look for new premises for our practice, Portmore Dental. At this time the banks were unwilling to lend and we were struggling to obtain finance. One of our partners was also just about to retire, and we all felt that we really needed help with the admin side of our business.

There are just so many regulations in dentistry now. We didn’t have the time to look after CQC and all the admin work as well as doing our day-to-day dentistry. We’re all dentists and we love our jobs, but all the other stuff outside of dentistry was becoming a major burden.

Thankfully, we discovered The Dental Partnership, and their CEO Justin Stewart. The Dental Partnership came in and took over all of the admin side from the CQC to the HR. This has helped us all focus on providing high quality dentistry and growing the business while they handle all the rest. It’s been a year now, and I’ve been totally released from all the administrative burdens. It’s been a massive weight off my shoulders. When I’m finished with clinical work for the day, I’m finished with work for the day, and that’s a really good feeling.

Before we started working with The Dental Partnership we didn’t put very much effort into marketing. We were so consumed with CQC compliance and ‘ticking all the boxes’ that marketing wasn’t really on our agenda. As a result our new patient numbers were quite low, and not what we might have come to expect.

When we started working with The Dental Partnership, Justin and his team were keen to help us develop our business through marketing. The help they have provided has been invaluable. Since they started working on the practice marketing our new patient numbers have doubled!

The Dental Partnership is different to any other corporate. They don’t employ associates for a start, and they are very clear that they work with dentists as partners. This means I have a share of the practice’s profits because I am a partner. If the business does well then I will do well as well because I share in the profit.

I’m very happy we decided to work with The Dental Partnership. If I’m honest, I don’t think I would still be working in dentistry if we hadn’t taken this step. All of the ‘outside’ stuff – the admin, the legislation – it was all becoming too much for me, and I was becoming really disillusioned with my career. I want to help people with dentistry; I don’t want to push papers around all day.

By working together with The Dental Partnership we can now all focus on dentistry, and we are certainly all enjoying our work a lot more. From a personal point of view I can say it’s given me a new lease of life. I am enjoying dentistry once again and I have far more time to focus on the things that really matter.

For more information call 020 8255 2022 or visit www.tdpgroup.co.uk

About the author:

Eben Van der Walt is a Partner at Portmore Dental Practice, Weybridge, Surrey. Eben qualified from Stellenbosch University in June 2000. After relocating to the UK, he joined the Portmore Dental Practice in 2004. His special interests include Aesthetic Dentistry and Endodontics.

In the competitive world of online dental marketing, it can often be a challenge to develop a website that really stands out from the crowd. In 2010, Dr Wyman Chan of Smile Studio London decided to work with the team at Dental Focus ® ‘Websites for your profit’ to create a fresh new website to attract new patients and showcase his work.

‘I’ve had my own website for over ten years,’ says Wyman. ‘But about three years ago now I decided it was time for a change. This led me to Dental Focus ® – a team of online marketing experts who work exclusively in dentistry. Having seen some of their work, I was confident that they were the right team to work with to create my new website and I had got to know their CEO Krishan Joshi over the years so I knew they were a team I could trust.’

To get the project underway, Wyman and his PR & Social Media Director Amy Cuthbertson worked with Dental Focus ® to develop concepts for the new website, while Amy also developed some unique artwork for the project.

‘The plan right from the very start was to create a very striking design that looks different to all the other dental practice websites out there,’ continues Wyman. ‘Amy also worked together with Dental Focus ® on the concept artwork and the design. Together we had a lot of input on the final website design – everything from the font and the general “look” and feel of the website to the content.

‘Once the initial design had been completed we were shown examples which we looked at and provided feedback on. Changes were then made to the design until we were all completely happy and satisfied that the website looked exactly as we wanted it to.

‘So far the feedback we’ve received has been very good indeed. Patients even come in and comment on the design – they say it looks nice, professional and elegant. They particularly like the fact that it’s so clear and easy to read.’

Though the main design of the website has now been completed, there is still much work yet to do.

’Now the website has been launched we’re working very hard to boost our Google ranking,’ says Wyman. ‘As part of our efforts to boost our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Amy is writing blogs for our website, and we post at least five a week. We are also working closely with Dental Focus ® to develop other ideas to draw visitors to our site and so push our website up the page rankings for key search terms such as “London Tooth Whitening”. It’s hard work, but we’re getting there!’

Whether you need help with social media, SEO, or you’d like to create a brand-new website from scratch, the team at Dental Focus ® ‘Websites for your profit’ have all the skills and expertise to help make your practice an online success. As Wyman concludes: ‘Dental Focus ® are very professional, very helpful – a wonderful team.’ 

For more information call 020 7183 8388, or visit www.dentalfocus.com

How much is a good dentist really worth?

Anyone who is anyone these days will know that the internet is literally teeming with online retailers all trying to ‘out do’ each other to offer the most choice and the best value possible. Even insurance is a massive area of competition on the internet now, and I am sure colleagues will be familiar with the advertising campaigns that have been run by the likes of Compare the Market, Go Compare and Confused.

While there is nothing wrong with people trying to save money where they can, the problem arises when you consider the impact that this price-driven buying culture is having on dentistry. Quite simply our profession, and the services that we offer are becoming commoditised, and our patients are being encouraged to mistake price with value and quality.

Finding the real value in dentistry

If any proof was needed of the ‘commoditisation’ of dentistry, I recently stumbled upon a newly launched website: CompareMySmile.com. As you may expect, CompareMySmile does exactly as its name suggests – it allows members of the public to compare price estimates for dental treatment in locations across the UK. So, your average Joe Public can log on, type ‘Veneers in London’ and they will then receive a list of quotes from registered practices in the area.

To most dentists, the problems with CompareMySmile would seem clear. On one level, it pampers to the misconception that good dentistry is just a numbers game. If I can do a root canal treatment for £X and you can do a root canal for £200 less, then clearly the patient will opt to have the treatment with you and not me. After all, your treatment is cheaper, so therefore one must be better value or the other a clear rip-off!

The worrying thing here is that many patients really do believe this to be the case. They don’t appreciate the value to be found in good dental treatment; nor do they understand the simple fact that not all dentists are the same, and not all dentists can provide the same standard of care.

Still plenty of work to do

As a profession, clearly we still have an awful lot more work to do. While websites such as CompareMySmile and GroupOn encourage patients to look at our work in purely financial terms, our efforts should be directed to showing patients what real value in dentistry is – that teeth are just too valuable to be treated as something that can be bought and sold.

Good dentistry is – and always will be – about forming strong professional relationships with our patients, understanding their needs and providing the very best standard of care possible. We are, at our heart, a caring profession, and if we let price become the determining factor in what we do, then that relationship will slowly start to fade.

For further information please call EndoCare on 020 7224 0999

Or visit www.endocare.co.uk

Dr Michael Sultan BDS MSc DFO FICD is a Specialist in Endodontics and the Clinical Director of EndoCare. Michael qualified at Bristol University in 1986. He worked as a general dental practitioner for 5 years before commencing specialist studies at Guy’s hospital, London. He completed his MSc in Endodontics in 1993 and worked as an in-house Endodontist in various practices before setting up in Harley St, London in 2000. He was admitted onto the specialist register in Endodontics in 1999 and has lectured extensively to postgraduate dental groups as well as lecturing on Endodontic courses at Eastman CPD, University of London. He has been involved with numerous dental groups and has been chairman of the Alpha Omega dental fraternity. In 2008 he became clinical director of EndoCare, a group of specialist practices.

Teeth whitening is one of the most popular cosmetic dental treatments carried out today. This simple and relatively in-expensive treatment offers a number of benefits to the patient that extend beyond just whitening teeth, as patients will find they also benefit from improved self-esteem and a desire to engage more proactively in their oral health.

A range of options

In order to make the most out of teeth whitening treatments, you should aim to stock a selection of different whitening treatments that you can offer to patients. In these highly competitive times, it is simply not good enough any more to offer just one treatment to patients or ‘whatever you have in the fridge’. This is because patients today are savvier than they’ve ever been. They want to look their best, and thanks to the rapid rise of the internet, are now more choice-conscious than ever before. As such you should aim to set your self apart from local rivals by offering a carefully selected product mix that caters for all needs and budgets – not just the high-end of the whitening spectrum.

Tray whitening

Most practices will be familiar with tray whitening. This has long been one of the most popular and effective whitening options, and there are many different manufacturers that cater for this market. Whitening gels are available both in Hydrogen Peroxide and Carbamide Peroxide varieties and some manufacturers now also include natural ingredients in their whitening formulation in order to limit sensitivity and promote good long term oral health.

Whitening strips

Though tray whitening is perhaps the most well established whitening option, it does come with a number of drawbacks; not least the need to create custom trays for each patient, and the inconvenience (and lack of comfort) associated with wearing a tray for any length of time. To fill this gap in the market, whitening strips are an innovation that has really started to take off in the last few years. Plastic mouldable strips are coated in the optimum amount of whitening gel to safely and effectively whiten teeth.

Oral care products

To meet demand for complementary whitening solutions, it can also be useful to stock a range of whitening-related oral care products to meet expected patient demand. These products could include sonic toothbrushes or manual whitening brushes that can be combined with high quality whitening toothpastes and other such oral care products.

Product synergy

As well as considering the sorts of whitening products you are able to offer in your practice, you should also consider how the products can be used together – is there any form of synergy you can create to boost sales? How about whitening ‘gift packs’ or ‘mini makeover’ packages? What about offering whitening treatments to wedding parties? The key here is all about adding value to the ‘product’ that you sell, and then make sure your patients understand the value that is on offer.

For the complete whitening solution, WhiteWash Laboratories offers a broad range of excellent whitening solutions designed to cater for every need. These include Professional Teeth Whitening Gel, Professional Teeth Whitening Strips and a catalogue of innovative oral care products with high added value to drive sales and help your practice grow.

For more information call 0844 68 69 150, email

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or visit www.whitewashlaboratories.com

In such a fast-paced modern world, change and evolution are inevitable. The dental industry is a prime example of this, with new ideas, materials and clinical techniques constantly emerging in all areas of the profession and from all over the world.

Aesthetic Orthodontics is one such field that has seen and is still experiencing significant advancement, particularly with the growing emphasis on aesthetics.

Today, limited outcome ‘aesthetic orthodontics’ involves almost invisible appliances, maximum patient comfort, and minimal preparation on the existing teeth. The Inman Aligner established itself as one such option several years ago, and it soon became renowned for its ability to promote minimally invasive dentistry.

As the UK pioneer and the world’s most experienced clinician with the Inman Aligner, Dr Tif Qureshi is proud announce that the company behind the appliance is developing and expanding.

“This is something we have been thinking about and planning for a very long time now but we always want to work with the best people,” he says. “The Inman Aligner has built a great reputation for offering one of the best short-term aesthetic orthodontic training courses available, and this provided us with an effective platform to work from.

“As anyone who has attended one of our courses will know, our instructors are not driven by the motivation to ‘sell’, and so have always been very honest and have highlighted the limitations of the appliance as well as the many benefits. Having studied these restrictions for some time, we are soon to introduce to the UK two more systems that have the ability to treat cases not suitable for the Inman Aligner.”

Using the same ethical and planning principles, the team are soon to add IAS ClearSmile Aligners and IAS 6 Month Braces (Powerprox) to their repertoire. Both new treatment options are more than suitable for all GDPs to offer, are easy to work with and use simple mechanisms to achieve the best results. They are designed to be as discreet as possible, and offer safe and comfortable orthodontics for all. Requiring similar protocols with regards to occlusion setup and digital treatment planning, the new systems also ensure that more patients can be treated effectively with the same ethical systems.

“Both systems will incorporate our existing company philosophies and ethics,” explains Dr Qureshi. “The training for each will also be delivered in a similar format, as we believe that the better the training is, the better the treatment outcomes will be. The same essential ‘Spacewize’ software that comes with the Inman Aligner will also help enhance practitioners’s digital treatment planning with the new systems, ensuring successful results from their first case by allowing real digital anterior arch planning.”

Looking at IAS 6 Month Braces (Powerprox), Dr Qureshi is keen to highlight that the team are working with the best in the business to provide comprehensive training for clinicians.

“The training for IAS 6 Month Braces (Powerprox) will be headed by the famous Dr Rick DePaul – by far and away the best instructor in short-term-orthodontics [STO] around the world. Widely attributed as the originator of STO and indirect tray systems and highly praised among the US dental community (dentaltown US is a good example), Rick is recognised for developing and perfecting the concept. Committed to ethical and thorough training, he also works with a similar teaching style to those we have already been employing, so we are delighted to be working with him. In addition, Rick has been teaching STO for over 10 years – far longer than anyone else in this field.

“As such, the training for IAS 6 Month Braces (Powerprox) will be hands-on and will demonstrate how to use and adjust the appliance for optimal results. As with the Inman Aligner, all GPDs taking the course will also have access to on going support through the online forums, which professionals can utilise to gain any bespoke information or advice they need.”

The IAS ClearSmile training will also be supported by these online forums, which practitioners can use to post photos of their cases and seek guidance both from fellow clinicians and directly from the experts. This is particularly useful for initial cases and for those that require a more complex treatment plan.

“With all three short-term-orthodontic appliances, clinicians will be able to offer fast, safe and highly effective treatments to more patients. The Inman Aligner is probably the simplest of the appliances, but there are cases that it is not suitable for, so IAS ClearSmile and IAS 6 Month Braces (Powerprox) are the natural progression from here. For some time we have been helping clinicians with cases using similar products, and now we are delighted to provide a fully structured service encompassing all the comprehensive training and continual support practitioners need. The real difference here is that rather than people just jumping on the band wagon of STO, the true originators of the Inman Aligner technique and the true originator of all 6 month-style systems have combined to form the best team with the most experienced teachers around. We also have Specialist Orthodontists on our forums to assist with advice on cases that are outside the remit of GDP orthodontics, and better suited for referral.”

Now incorporating all three orthodontic appliances, the overall company will soon re-brand to Intelligent Alignment Systems (IAS), from whom you will be able to source all the information, advice and guidance you could need. Demonstrating just how far the world of Aesthetic orthodontics has come, these courses are tailored specifically to your needs, whether or not you have previous training or experience in this field.

Find out how you can provide convenient, safe and effective orthodontic treatment for your patients today.

For more information on the training courses available from IAS,

please call 0845 366 5477

As one of the UK’s foremost providers of high quality verifiable CPD, ProDentalCPD allows dental professionals to benefit from using an e-learning platform consisting of over 600 modules and articles from more than 2,000 authors – many of whom are experts in their field. Users can view over 400 hours of peer-reviewed verifiable CPD (including all Core CPD) in text, video and audio formats.

ProDentalCPD has captured the attention of Dr Simon Wright, principal partner of Glencairn Practice Group and a senior lecturer in Implantology at the University of Salford. He has been using the resource for the last three years to ensure his colleagues are up-to-date with GDC registration requirements. Simon says, “It has started to become a big part of our practices. We get together as a team and work through the different modules, hundreds of journals, webinars, and quizzes.”

Learning used to be about attending lectures and seminars, but now it can be easily performed online using ProDentalCPD in a format that suits every individual and as Simon explains there really is something for everyone. “As an old fashioned dentist I have always liked the good old lectures, but ProDentalCPD seems to be able to keep my attention, and make me feel involved. There is so much material on this site is does not matter which type of learning suits you, there is something there for you.”

Simon and his staff are among hundreds of other dental professionals who have been converted to using ProDentalCPD because of the advantages it brings. With ever increasing time constraints, dental professionals find e-learning convenient and easy to use. “I know the design team have gone to a lot of effort to ensure it is easy to navigate, fulfils the requirements of the GDC, and is sympathetic towards the busy dental professional, who needs to be able to complete the modules and portfolio with the minimum of fuss. I am not sure if it is good luck or good management, but they have definitely got it right.”

Simon continues, “It fits in around us. We regularly grab five minutes here and there to read an article, or start a module, or alternatively we schedule an hour-long slot at our practice meetings to watch a webinar. We find it can be done anywhere, anytime, with whoever – just don't tell my wife!”

Dentists from across the world are using ProDentalCPD as it fits conveniently in with their busy lifestyles. And with the additional benefit of learning alongside Professor Tooth, Simon adds: “My computer has been transformed from a one-eyed beast that sucks my soul dry, into a quirky little tooth caricature wearing a gown that I can not wait to turn on and meet again. In both practices we have easily notched up hundreds of hours of verifiable CPD. The danger now is that our nursing team are beginning to out smart the dentists!”

To learn more about high-quality e-learning solutions, contact ProDentalCPD on 0114 282 3509, or visit www.prodentalcpd.com

For most people Christmas is a time of celebration, family gatherings and gift sharing, but for some dentists this particular time of year is dreaded.

The BDA Benevolent Fund works hard throughout the festive season to help dentists and their families who have hit a financial crisis, whether that’s through illness, bereavement or another event that has turned their world upside down.

Christmas has become an exceptionally hard time of year for Sarah* since the sale of her practice in 2009 resulted in an unfair suspension. Her earnings dropped from £100,000 to £18,000 when she was forced to look for work elsewhere.

She says, “After being in a practice for 20 years and classing some of the people
I treated not just as patients, but as members of the family, I was obviously very upset. My reputation was completely decimated overnight.”

After losing her job, Sarah was left struggling to pay for her three children’s education fees and the mortgage on the house. She managed to find work as a locum in a hospital, but as the savings from the sale of her practice and her credit cards were used to pay for the family’s living expenses, she realised she couldn’t continue on such a downward spiral. Sarah turned to the Fund for help in 2010. While this offered Sarah and her family a lifeline, Christmas still remains a particularly difficult time of year for her family.

She added, “Christmas has been particularly hard for us. The children used to get
a nice big Christmas present, but instead we had to sell things to be able to afford essentials. Last Christmas was a real struggle. Nobody comes round for Christmas anymore, because we can’t afford to host it. It’s my eldest son’s 21^st birthday this year as well, so we will probably put whatever we can afford into his birthday, rather than into Christmas. It’s going to be a hard one.”

Sarah admits that without the Fund’s help she may well have had their house repossessed, resulting in her family being left without a home. She added, “I’m doing all I can at the moment to pay back the Fund and if I was to win the lottery tomorrow they would get a great big lump sum. I’m really thankful for all the help they have given me.”

Please will you make a special gift this Christmas to help vulnerable dentists get through the festive period? 

To make a donation go to www.bdabenevolentfund.org.uk or send a cheque to:
‘BDA Benevolent Fund’, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS.

For more information about the BDA Benevolent Fund

call 020 7486 4994, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 or visit www.bdabenevolentfund.org.uk

All enquiries are considered in confidence.

Registered charity no. 208146

*This dentist’s name has been changed to protect their identity

Nearly every day I get an email - Get to page ONE of Google. It goes into the same folder as collecting my inheritance from my lost relative in Nigeria. It is rubbish and should be treated like spam.

First of all no one can guarantee to be on the first page of Google unless you have a paid campaign and these days in dentistry you are looking at over £1000 per month to have any chance of getting to page one on sponsored advertisements. Secondly people seem to have gone crazy and want a quick win - they forget Dentistry is a relationship business and relationships take time.

You want more patients? It is simple, just ask your existing ones. I know you have heard this before but do you actually do it with EVERY patient? Tell them how much you like seeing and treating them. Tell them you have vacancies for patients like them and give them a few business cards. Do not leave it there, follow it up with an email reminding them. Most of them never think of telling their friends and family about you unless they get asked. We also send follow-up letters asking them if the treatment was comfortable, explaining the maintenance and guarantees on their work and again asking for referrals.

We look at our day list at our morning meeting - we all instantly see the names of the people we like to treat. Make it a point for the whole team to do this every day.

Now with more and more compliance there are companies out there who can automate this process for you. After every dental appointment they can email your patients and ask them to rate the service they achieved and even ask if they are happy to write a testimonial that can be placed on your website or Google reviews

You do not need a huge marketing budget. It just needs time to make sure your message is clear and you invest in different ways in reaching your target audience. A good campaign also gets them emotionally stimulated to buy or at least investigate your practice. Convert your raving fans into your marketing force.

James Goolnik is a practising Dentist and his book “Brush” donates 100% of the profits to Dentaid. He recently led a team of 8 dental professionals to Malawi to install two dental chairs, equipment and deliver skills transfer workshops from these proceed. He is a trustee of the charity “Heart your Smile”.

www.jamesgoolnik.com

Botched &  Dire Advice

Well, its that time of the year when the smell of a drying wet dog permeates the house. The leaves are turning. The Fall is here as our colleagues across the pond might note.

The disturbing, but perhaps not unexpected, news this week is that the BDA are experiencing their own Autumnal Fall. This has of course galvanised the bar-room gaggle into snap analysis and quick fixing over a pint. Whoa Trigger. If only it were that easy!

It seems that the fancy new 3 tier membership has resulted in a wallet voting rush for web-BDA only. Which bit of the “Rollup, save £300” message did the membership FAIL to get?  The story goes that the wide-red-braced management consultant’s expected, cosy, even split of membership from “Basic” through to “Free Conference Tickets for all” levels has not materialised. Well, quelle surpise.

There has been what one must assume is a catastrophic fall in membership income, and already barely three months later redundancies are taking place.  Lifeboats and the Costa Concordia come to mind. Abandon ship, or merely muster at lifeboat stations? Time will shortly tell.

So what is the message here?   Some ¾ of the membership of about 18000 are understood to have elected for no personal contact with the BDA. That may be the reality of distant and isolate practice– one hopes… But of course it might be more of a vote of no-confidence.

But the 18000 HAVE signed up to 60 hours of vCPD [I wonder how many will actually take that up]. They HAVE signed up for library and journal access. And they HAVE signed up for soopah- doopah web access to 5000 pages of dental whatever. You could of course try Google for free and save another £300.

Perhaps more pertinent in these times - They HAVE signed up to Trades Union support.

Is it me?  The new membership have declined the offer of a free conference ticket, and by and large rejected the Expert practice and management support package and yet signed up in the main to the very bit the BDA hardly excels at – representation at government level.  Even then, in the basic package, all support will have to be ‘on line’. Joy.

The BDA seem to have shot themselves in the foot with this new membership and then left themselves with the only remaining task of running the marathon of representation. In rugby parlance, a hospital pass.

Maybe this new membership split IS a vote after all …

Maybe we will now have a Trade Union with balls. 

Since starting as a mailing list in 1997, GDPUK has evolved into one of the major digital publishers of Dental content in the UK. With around 6000 members regularly using the dental forum, plus a range of dentals news and blogs constantly being published, I want to look at the advantages of digital publishing, why we enjoy it so much and how the UK Dental profession is benefitting.

Instant news

As written in a previous blog, we have all become addicted to the latest news and information. As I write this blog, the football transfer deadline is looming with fans hoping their team will sign players or hold on to players. Fans follow the transfers on social media, through TV and on their phones either reading mobile sites or communicating with their friends. News is constant and moves at a quicker pace than ever before and dentistry is no different. GDPUK often publishes content in a matter of minutes, like yesterdays exclusive UK Graduate news. Publishing everything online means we have no print deadlines and can publish articles within a few minutes.

Content

A unique advantage of digital publishing is that you can constantly produce content. We do this through the news, blogs and forum. The forum has over 500 different contributors a month, which means that a range of opinions are expressed throughout the day and some fantastic, well informed debates take place. We have a number of bloggers as well, who write dental focused content for the site and this produces insightful, humorous and thought provoking blogs for the site. We also constantly publish dental news, with a number of exclusives pieces of news a year. This means that the content on the site is consistently evolving and staying fresh.

Interaction

GDPUK members’ interacting with each other is the lifeblood of the forum. Members enjoy engaging with each other on a regular basis, sometimes giving useful information, sometimes being critical, sometimes being provocative but all this interaction creates a sense of community. Members who read but do not post (lurkers) still get the feeling of being part of the community and read the posts on the forum with interest. Dentists are gaining information, insight, advice and education from the forum; we believe the ever increasing interaction between the members is great for the dentists and the profession.

Accessibility

As a digital platform the site can be accessed from anywhere. August a traditional holiday month in the UK was the busiest month in the history of the site, with our members accessing the forum from all corners of the world on a range of mediums. The eagerly awaited GDPUK app is nearly close to completion and this will give further accessibility to dentists who are looking for regular dental news & opinion on a tablet device. We believe that the site has become a central part of our member’s daily lives; they will check general news, social media and then GDPUK. This can be confirmed by a recent GDC report on Standards with the paragraph reading as follows on social media, “Social media covers a number of internet based tools which allow people to create and exchange content. It includes blogs, internet forums, content communities and social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, LinkedIn, GDPUK, Instagram and Pinterest.” This small sentence from the GDC is a great example of how information is being accessed, 24 hours a day an this is certainly something the dental profession is embracing. Interacting with colleagues, suppliers and customers now happens through a number of mediums.

Numbers Show Interest

At GDPUK we are known for reciting stats and we pride ourselves on offering up to date numbers on how often the site is being used. We prefer to focus on unique visitors and number of visitors because they are seen as a great indicator of traffic to a website and that the content is interesting. The last 8 months has seen a huge rise in these numbers. Each unique visitor in the month is from a single IP address, the total visits in August show that each visitor makes an average of more than 4 visits per month, at an average greater than 4,000 per day. These stats show GDPUK has further cemented its place in the UK Dentistry landscape. We offer a unique place to receive news, information and opinion on the constantly changing world of UK Dentistry. The table below shows that the site has seen some great growth and we appreciate everyone’s support from the dental community. Keep spreading the word and we will continue to grow the resource and community together.

Passion!

As you can probably tell the GDPUK team is passionate about digital publishing and embracing the advantages I have listed above. Digital publishing is still evolving and that is why it is exciting to be part of. In the last few weeks we have improved the site further with a new modern template, plus introducing fresher advertising banners that give greater exposure to our advertising partners. As mentioned earlier in this blog we also hope to introduce a GDPUK App which further enhances our digital publishing pedigree.

How has digital publishing helped your dental business or dental practice? Maybe you do a regular blog or email newsletter? Do you agree that it has helped dentistry? I would love to hear your thoughts and how you see dental publishing evolving?

As I have mentioned in my previous digital dentistry blogs, online marketing is a growing industry, with companies investing in a number of different digital formats: Search, Video, Rich Media, Social Media, Mobile and Display. One of the areas that digital marketers still spend their advertising budget in is Email Marketing. Email Marketing sounds like it is old fashioned but if done correctly it is still well and truly alive!

Email marketing is directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. Email marketing in dentistry terms is used in a number of ways. Companies will email current or previous customers to encourage brand loyalty and hopefully win or repeat business. Companies will also send emails in the hope of acquiring new customers. The third way is companies will add advertisements to email messages sent by other companies to their customers. Recent research has suggested that conservative estimates of US companies alone spent US $1.51 billion on email marketing in 2011 and will grow to $2.468 billion by 2016. Amazingly still a growing market.

We now need to look at how email marketing can be used in terms of the dental profession whether you have a new product that you would like dentists to look at, or you would like to attract more patients to your practice. Below are 4 A* reasons (in celebration of exam results) we can still use email marketing to benefit your business and hopefully it will give you some inspiration to revisit your email marketing campaign!

1.    Addiction

After I hit the snooze button for the third time at about 7:30am, I reach for my phone half awake and peruse my emails. We all love to check our emails and unlike other mediums, virtually everyone uses email. Many of us will check email first thing and see what emails we could have been sent in the 7 and a half hours since we last checked! Recent studies have suggested that reading emails consumes 28% of the average workers week and we each send or receive over 112 emails a day! Those stats suggest we keep a close eye on our email inbox. We all have accounts on social media and many of us also check them with regularity but one thing we all have in common is that we all check the email inbox constantly. This means that if you are looking to promote a new product or service, you need to be in your customers email inbox. Email should therefore not be ignored.  

2.    Automated

Auto-responders can easily be set up, which allows you to write and schedule a series of emails that will be sent at regular intervals to any potential customers. They immediately provide information to your prospective customers and then will follow up over a set period. This means that over an example 6 month period you have sent a number of emails and engaged with your customers. Mail Chimp and other email marketing companies offer an auto responder service, which is easy to setup and simple to put in practice. Patients could be sent regular special offers for example over a set period.

3.    Accountability and Value

An exact return on investment (ROI) can be tracked because you will know how many people have received the email, how many people have opened and what the click rate to your message is. This gives you wonderful accountability and value for money. You will also get results instantly. For example with GDPUK when companies advertise in our daily emails or on the website we provide full stats for our customers once a week and even more if they request it. This means that the customer can see what kind of return they are receiving from their digital campaign, with the opportunity to change the banner or message as the campaign progresses.

4.    Aggressive

After we build up a decent list of contacts, prospects and customers, sometimes we can then be cautious with the list. In my previous employment we very rarely sent out email campaigns because we were afraid of appearing too spammy or aggressive but I believe that was a mistake. Please don’t take this advice and send out hundreds of emails a month but if you have something to say or announce, make sure your email list knows about it. (your competitors will be doing the same) There is nothing wrong with sharing information and showing you are doing a good job or can offer excellent value, you want to stay in front of your customer’s eyes as well as plant your brand in the customers mind! Email marketing needs to be constant, well thought out and engaging.

So how can we use email marketing in dentistry?

At GDPUK we keep our members engaged on the site by sending daily digest emails, 3 times a day. This sounds like a lot but these emails all contain different content and contain the latest dental news and the most recent forum posts of the day. This gives our members a chance to check their email inboxes and then click on subjects that interest them. The emails are certainly popular because in an average month they get opened and read 130,000 times. These emails also contain banner ads, which often get excellent click through rates for our customers because our members want to read the emails and the advertisers are reaching a target audience of engaged dentists.

In a dental practice you could send special offers to your patients or an interesting newsletter every few weeks. It means you are proactively communicating with your existing and potential patients instead of hoping they will call or walk in. This will hopefully increase business and develop further patient loyalty. If you send a good offer for “teeth whitening” for example, you could also invite your patients to forward the email offer to their friends or colleagues who might have interest in the offer. So once organised, a few minutes of work every couple of weeks will hopefully fill an empty one or two appointment spaces in the practice! 

There have been many questions about the dental charity Heart Your Smile (HYS). I have been asked why is an organisation needed to get more people to visit the dentist?

The vision from the outset at HYS was that improving engagement between the profession and the public would lead to increased trust and improvement of uptake of oral health messages and care at local level.  Many organisations in this space concentrate on the messages themselves, but we felt the messages were well established, so to elicit behaviour change we decided to concentrate on breaking down barriers to the uptake of oral health messages.

Heart Your Smile (HYS) has 4 key goals.

These are to:

1.            Change the public's perception of Dentistry

2.            Increase attendance and uptake of care

3.            Emphasise the dental team's position as trusted members of the local community

4.            Restore positive morale in the profession

We went through a rigorous process with the charity commission.  Our charitable objects are:
1.    to promote and protect the physical and mental health of sufferers of [oral diseases] in [the UK] through the provision of financial assistance, support, education and practical advice.
2.    to advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to oral health
 

All funds we raise go towards promoting our charitable objects.  To advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to oral health is a very costly undertaking.

Our initial campaign was to seek out the professionals who already had the energy and interest to support their local communities through:
*            oral health promotion
*            general health and healthy living support and advice
*            support in the community in schools, homes, local organisations etc, by giving their time and gaining their trust

We decided these behaviours could be packaged as the “9 habits” and are a positive way of raising the public's confidence in seeking timely dental care, by reducing anxiety, one of the biggest barriers.

Meanwhile, as these professionals were getting in touch, we needed time, funds and supporters to develop an online presence through which any team member in the profession could make a positive contribution in their community and share their work to create a ripple effect. We established a flat organisation and anyone was and still is welcome to join in and take on a workstream.

We also used this time to create mentoring resources and oral health promotion resources and the trustees wanted to get robust support from public health advisors for the resources we were producing before we announced them, so the whole process of getting to where we are now took 12 months.

The mentoring platform has been developed in conjunction with Fiona Ellwood, who has the level 7 postgraduate certificate in Mentoring from FGDP (UK). Our first group of 24 Mentors and Mentees start working together on 18^th September.

Heart your Smile is committed to promote civic responsibility and good citizenship amongst members of the dental profession in a sustained campaign to achieve our objectives. We started off with trade stands and engagement online, we have launched innovation 360 to crowd source innovation and spread the message through local action, as well as pilot new methods of engagement and to roll out the best ideas. The first round of applications has closed and we are working with 14 teams to roll out their ideas.

We would love all dental teams as well as members from GDPUK to get involved and perhaps lead a workstream of their choice or apply to be mentors or mentees. The future of the dental profession is in our hands.

Over the next few years, video will become an integral part of dental marketing. Video attracts and holds customer attention and can contribute to a huge range of marketing ideas whether you are looking to attract new customers or engage current ones.

When we venture online, we are now seeing adverts that are similar to TV ads with the same quality and spend but they are appearing on the computer screen. Some evidence found here suggests that in June 2013, 183 million Americans watched more than 44 billion online content videos and more than 20 billion video advertisements. That is a lot of hours spent watching video! Video content has become increasingly important; in the last year alone over 38 million people watched video on their mobile phones. DG, one of the largest digital ad agencies in the world, point out that in-stream video advertising represents a huge opportunity for advertisers. It is believed that over 200 billion videos are viewed online every month worldwide. DG’s, recent survey results show that click through rate of video ads is on average nearly 2000% more than standard banners. This data suggests that video could be an extremely effective way to drive people to your website, increase traffic levels and ultimately convert sales!

Video ads often get included under the rich media umbrella. The term rich media was coined to describe a broad range of digital interactive media. Rich media can be downloaded but nowadays it is more likely to be embedded within a web page. Rich media is advertising that contains perceptual or interactive elements more elaborate than the usual banner ad. Today, the term is often used for banner ads with popup menus or videos that let the visitor select a particular page to link to on the advertiser's site.

Below is a video about the rise of rich media and its increasing importance in online advertising.

How can video benefit your dental business?

Below are 6 benefits of embracing rich media and online video. These can all be applied to the dental industry.  

1.   Show off your expertise

A video or interactive banner ad can be a fantastic way of showing the world what you know, this then builds credibility with potential customers. This means there has to be a focus on quality content and a well thought out video or advertising campaign.

2.   Make your customers the stars of the video

Colgate and Aquafresh often do this on TV adverts using dentists to endorse their toothpaste but a genuinely satisfied customer is even better, so where possible put customers in the spotlight and let them do the talking about how your product or service has been fantastic or a life saver. This then produces interactive testimonials that show customer satisfaction.

3.   Video becomes part of your overall advertising campaign

The majority of dental companies will have campaigns over multiple mediums. For example, a handpiece manufacturer is promoting their new ultra modern hand piece. They are likely to launch the new handpiece at a trade show, advertise the product in dental magazines and dental websites plus have their rep take it around dental practices, either to existing customers or even potential new customers. As part of this campaign the dental company could also produce a short video that will show how the handpiece works, what the benefits are and maybe some dentists talking about how excellent and easy it is to use. Video could be an exciting addition to a company’s advertising campaign.

4.   Impact on Social Media

The video can be shared across social media, so as well as having it available on a website as an online ad, you can also share the video with your followers on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Twitter. Pinterest for example is no longer just images it is now moving past the static images it was originally known for. Sharing of videos within the dental community get people talking and sharing. Video adverts account for 31% of all videos views, if your ad is interesting or different, it will get shared on social media.

5.   Measures Time

With TV we never know how long people are watching TV ads or how long they listen on the radio but with rich media we are able to measure how long the consumer is looking at the advert or content. It is estimated that consumers are 25% more likely to click on a rich media banner than a normal static banner.

6.   Create an engaging story

Create an engaging story, once the consumer is engaged and clicks on the rich media ad or video they want to learn more and like to see the outcome of the story. Increase interest and intrigue in your brand, consumers will start to remember the ad and reports suggest that branded searches will increase threefold. Below is a good example to a link of a dental company promoting a new product and I personally think they have used video brilliantly. What do you think?

So how could video work for the dental profession?

So we have seen the benefits but how could we use video? Video could be introduced in a number of areas of the digital dental world. You could put video on your practice website (many people already have this), introduce your product or brand on your company website through a quick video or instead of playing safe with a printed advert or online banner, why not invest in something a bit more innovative or imaginative and try the online video ad like the example we have viewed above. I am sure there are already many possibilities you have envisaged of how video could be used in dentistry, please share them below, we would love to hear your ideas.

GDPUK can now make rich media a reality, if you would like to discuss running a rich media campaign or publishing video ads on our website, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will be to discuss marketing opportunities with you. Alternatively please come and visit us at the Dental Showcase @ NEC on stand L06a from the 17^th - 19^th of October 2013. 

Hi de Hi  Campers!  Over in the forum this week we have a fine to-do.

What a malarkie.   

The age old practice of Cross Subsidy in practice whereby the profitable end of private practice allows the social conscience to be salved by the maintenance of an NHS Contract seems to be quite under fire at this time. 

Who knows what goes on in the interest of the extra buck?  For sure, if the Government abuses its luxury of compliant dentists, the New Contract is doomed.

Should we aim to maintain the freedom to "mix" at all costs?  It is starting to acquire a dishonest  feel  and is open to hidden abuse.  Maybe we fear "being found out"

So whose Big Lie is it I wonder?

Maybe not at ALL costs ...

Bye for now, there's lovely.

People far wiser than myself; tell me with a hint of frustration that the Dental Industry has historically always been a few years behind what is happening in other professions & industries. I believe this applies when looking at the dental industry in relation to advertising & marketing to dentists, their customers.

Online Marketing is about attracting your target market to you by making sure you’re on the platforms that your prospects are using to search for their wants and needs. Online marketing has been increasingly taking a prominent role in businesses that realise the older-fashioned; more established methods such as cold calling, direct mail and print advertising were becoming less and less effective.

Traditional advertising power houses have seen their print advertising revenues decline over the past few years, with huge investment & growth taking place in their online versions. One great example of this is the Daily Mail. Even with its traditional, conservative reputation, The Daily Mail has seen huge revenue decline over the last few years in relation to their print advertising. In the meantime the Mail online website has become a huge draw for advertisers because of its 6.6 million unique visitors a day, which makes it the largest newspaper website ahead of The New York Times and The Guardian. Through a combination of comprehensive news, sports and showbiz reporting, the Daily Mail have embraced online publishing and of course the revenue possibilities.

Over the last few years, we know consumers are making the majority of their purchases online but now this also incorporates industries and professions.

So where am I going with all this? Let’s have a look at the profession we all care about; The Dental Profession. Historically, companies would put special offers or promotional material in trade magazines and expect a response and some return on investment but at GDPUK we know and can see this is changing. The printed magazines are no longer being opened and read like they once were, in my humble opinion they are often left in a heap in the corner of the dental practice. Dentists are looking online for their information, plus they love to share their knowledge with each other. One of the places this is done on an increasingly regular basis is the GDPUK Forum.

GDPUK has been established since 1997 and has evolved into the largest online community for dentists and dental professionals in the UK with approx 6000 members signed up to the site. The site is not open to the public, which means that the GDPUK Forum has become a form of social media for the dental community, where dentists discuss what materials or equipment they use, advise each other on surgical procedures, have lively discussions on the future of UK Dentistry and most importantly feel like they are in a secure environment that provides support and expertise.

Like other online publications, GDPUK has seen huge growth over the last the least few years, while 2013 has been exceptional. The below graphic shows the surge in unique visitors and number of visits in a month since Jan 2013, one we are very proud of. The image illustrates that dentists are using the site day in and day out, they have understood that joining an online community like GDPUK offers a place where they can learn, receive the latest dental news and opinion, take part in the discussions, gather information and form long lasting friendships.

GDPUK Server Statistics August 2013.

Membership of the site is free and we look to earn revenue from companies who want to embrace a terrific target audience of dentists. GDPUK offers a number of advertising opportunities on the site. These range from publishing articles in our blog section to a full marketing campaign that can be spread over a number of months. Our clients can try a number of marketing ideas and see what results and ROI online marketing brings them. This is the huge advantage online marketing brings, results are totally transparent and with weekly reporting our clients know when campaigns are successful or need tweaking. Over the years we have seen that marketing on our site has increased numbers at trade shows, improved brand awareness and has been instrumental in the promotion of new products or services which have entered the dental market. As I wrote earlier, “Online Marketing is about attracting your target market to you by making sure you’re on the platforms that your prospects are using to search for their wants and needs”. As you can see from the stats above, GDPUK is one of those platforms.

So I am posing a number of questions that I would love to be discussed.

Should you still be throwing money at traditional advertising streams? Should companies be embracing online only? Would you rather focus marketing on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? Are we still at the point where companies like to mix their budgets all around the industry and see benefits in all mediums? At GDPUK towers we are obviously firm & passionate believers in the online platform and can see signs the dental community is moving closer to embracing the social media and marketing world but what do you think? I look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts. 

If you would like more information on GDPUK, how we can work together and make online marketing work for your business, please get in touch with Jonny Jacobs – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I will be glad to chat and show how you can work with our growing community of dentists to grow your business. 

Please Raise your Standard to Celebrate the Birth ...

Well, the holiday season is well and truly upon us.  If you are reading this on the “small screen optimised” version of GDPUK.

I hope you have a good rest  :)

Wow – anyone would think the Royal birth was an event destined to mask any bad political news. How shockingly cynical!!  I am sure we all wish the wee B-Cam [as Dermot O Leary was heard describing the new Prince] a long and happy life and possibly even a reign.

Of course, it was not the only birth to be announced.

After a long gestation period, as is normal of the species of regulation, the GDC were proud to announce the birth of its new Standards Document, effective when you finally realise the holiday season is truly over. In fact despite the GDC trying to shoehorn everyone on-line, they seem to think they should send a hard copy to everyone.  So that’s where £10 of your registration fee will go!

Now if you want to use your time wisely I suggest you get your head round the prescriptive nature of the document.  This is not guidance – this is a dental practice instruction manual.  A Regulatory cook book worth of MasterChef.  What a stew they have created, non detail left unregulated, words steamed perfectly to just have that al dente bite, served in a gourmet extravaganza of unrepeatable Quango wizardry.

Your mission:  Learn the definition of the word MUST  in this document.

The Standards document defines the word helpfully:  ‘Must’ is used where the duty is compulsory

There are over 180 references to the use of the word MUST.

When the general  view was expressed within the profession and from without that the GDC needed to get a grip I am not sure they had this in mind.  The undergraduate course just had 6 months tacked on to it just to teach this!

Perhaps the area that intrigues me is Paragraph 7.1

This states:

Standard 7.1
You must provide good quality care based on current evidence and authoritative guidance
7.1.1 You must find out about current evidence and best practice which affect your work, premises, equipment and business and follow them.
7.1.2 If you deviate from established practice and guidance, you should record the reasons why and be able to justify your decision.

Now is it me? Is there really evidence for every aspect of dental care you offer your patient -  I thought the whole problem with dentistry related to a shockingly poor evidence base and that much of technical dentistry relied upon a large dollop of good judgment and wisdom.  And who is to judge who is authoritative? And how do you become an authrority?  Or are these the next areas of the ever expanding GDC workload?  

Good judgement and wisdom in registrants seem to be concepts alien to the new GDC.

With all the mention of the NHS or the as yet unfamilar 'equivalent Health Service', you don't think this document has the sticky fingers of the Department of Health all over it do you?

Oh well, you have been warned.  The GDC have bought in a new armory of sticks.  If you should find yourself being called to order by a malcontent patient, be prepared for a bruising. 180 lashes for you, dear colleagues.

For sure, there is now so much for you to remember that you will be regarded as guilty until proven innocent which if of course highly unlikely after October 1^st.  Gawd 'elp you if you are trying to do any dentistry at the same time!

Orwell, mate – roll in your grave.

Bon Vacanes mes amis 

-----------------------------------------------------

From http://www.gdc-uk.org/Dentalprofessionals/Standards/Pages/standards.aspx

Our Council approved the new Standards for the Dental Team at its meeting on 20 June 2013.  Standards for the Dental Team will replace the current Standards Guidance and accompanying statements, except for Scope of Practice, on Monday 30 September 2013.

A copy of Standards for the Dental Team will be sent in the post to everyone on our register at the end of August but you are also able to download a copy.

The GDC http://tinyurl.com/p7cgqnr

It's summer people, in case you were wondering about that warm feeling in the nether regions.  It’s not your age.

I hope your stocks of Day-Glo lip’n’nose sun-block are holding up in face of the start of the Ashes and with memories of cricketers past. “Come on England” What? Oh sorry, I was forgetting, polite clapping and murmuring only if you will.  Please wear a tie when watching the evening highlights.

Look, want to hear a rumour?  You know that old phrase “Smoke on the horizon”. Well, if you are on a cruise as you read this, this may be the oncoming dento-nautical threat you were worried about.   AQP - “Any Qualified Provider” - is coming to a town near you There, I’ve said it. Seemingly a little heard rumour for the New Contract will be this subtle change to NHS Regulations which means any registrant will be able to become a contracted provider. The final cog of the dastardly Direct Access master plan is being assembled as we speak. World domination is not far off … Could it be that the “unexpected consequence” of the pilots is that NHS England work out how to design a contract for Direct Access of the lower cost  Dental Hygienist/Therapist route. In case you missed it there was a recent gathering of biscuit munchers at that old mutual hugging salon, the Westminster Health Forum, where the big guns of the BDA are barely pea shooters to the heavy artillery of public servants.

Our old mate the CDO emerged as The Last Word. I am indebted to my reporter on the scene for the live action as it happened. If you were not there, you can get tax relief on the £95 for the write up of the day… [1]

The CDO “championed the pilots” and said that “although the basis of prevention was a ‘no brainer’ of an approach”, stated that ‘implementing “no brainers” is not as easy as people might think”  [2]

That’s because dentistry needs people with brains, doh!

The CDO is reported as saying: ‘Workforce change doesn’t happen instantly. We need to start training for 20-30 years ahead and it will need a big “cultural change”  "If we only engage the dental profession, it will take years. We have to engage a wider community with all DCPs playing a much greater part as a team providing care."

Ooh – do I detect the bitchiness coming out there?  Not the GDPs critical friend now are we?  Nurse, the smelling salts ... we're losing him...

Hell’s teeth – even Dr Paul Batchelor, that colleague synonymous with all that is enthusiastic about public funded health care, raised concerns about the current  Fitness of Purpose of undergraduate education.  Never mind 20 years from now.  Those of us old enough to remember the dental workforce review of the ‘80’s and the dental school closure will wryly recall that it was the major reason why the DH was forced to go on a recruitment drive in the East.

The “Any Qualified Provider” concept is not about patient care – it’s about being seen to reduce cost. Fair enough but let’s not wrap it up in fluffy patient centred claptrap.

I think that a little change of emphasis is perhaps appropriate.

ANY Qualified Provider ?  ANY… ??
That's better - it smacks a little more of the desperation that is truly revealed.

“Building services around the patient”, my arse. It’s all about money.

And so is a holiday – so enjoy your breaks and don’t worry about the strength of the Pound.  Ciao for Niaow Amigos!

[1] http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/showpublications.php?pid=556

[2] http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/dentistry-needs-%E2%80%98cultural-change%E2%80%99