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

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

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

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

The General Dental Council has successfully prosecuted an Essex man who pleaded guilty to illegally practising dentistry for the illegal practice of dentistry. Mr Harinder Singh is employed as a practice manager at the Devonshire House Dental Practice, Brentwood. He was ordered to pay a £1400 fine and the GDC’s full costs of £1190.23.

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

The ratio of goodwill to fee income for the average dental practice sold in the quarter ending 31 July 2012 has increased in the latest National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers (NASDAL) goodwill survey. It has picked up by 10 per cent from 91% of turnover in the previous quarter ending April 2012 to 101% in the most recent collection of figures from NASDAL members.