New research by Bupa confirms that over half of adults experience ’severe nervousness about dental appointments’ with 76% of patients who suffer from dental anxiety putting off dental visits ’entirely’.
No commentsRead more: Widespread Fear Of Dentists Still Deters Attendance
This week’s tip for CV embellishment comes from our regulator. If you have carried out a basic survey and then taken five months to write up the data, you can then describe it as a piece of research. That is what the inveterate ‘researchers’ at the GDC have done based on data from their optional add on questionnaire, which was attached to the December 2023 dentist annual registration renewal.
The GDC have published their annual registration and fitness to practice statistical reports for 2023. Both reports include comparison data from previous years to show trends and changes over time. The Registration Statistical Report provides an overview of the GDC’s registration activity. Some of the GDC’s highlighted figures include:
Read more: GDC Publish Statistics for Registration and FTP in 2023
At last June’s annual Local Dental Committee Conference in Harrogate the forthcoming meeting in Brighton looked set to be the last before an election. What no one can have expected until very recently was that it would fall in the middle of the election campaign.
Read more: LDC Conference in Spotlight as Election Approaches
You wake up with toothache. Just a few hours later you are seen by a dentist at a dedicated local clinic. Naturally this service is provided under the NHS. Not a dream, but reality, at least for some.
Shortly after the announcement of a General Election, the Department of Health & Social Care launched a ’Consultation’ to examine ’whether newly qualified dentists should commit to delivering a minimum amount of NHS work after graduating or repay some training fees’.
Read more: Should Dental Graduates Be 'Shackled' To The NHS? - Consultation Launched
We have all found unexpected items stuck at the back of a sofa. A banknote for the lucky and a long forgotten snack for the less fortunate. It takes the GDC to find nearly £200,000 worth of ‘research’ which they had commissioned and then apparently forgotten about.
Read more: How Did GDC Forget Their £195,000 Research Project?
Few stones have been left unturned in the UK as both the NHS and Government struggle to provide the size of workforce needed to cope with demand. There have been promises of extra training places, golden hellos, golden handcuffs, radical relaxation of checks on overseas dentists wishing to practice in the UK, and therapist led services. All present their own unique challenges. But perhaps we have been missing a huge and untapped resource, as revealed in a recent report from Japan.
Read more: How to solve the workforce shortage Japanese style.
A recent flurry of dental awards have recognised the special contributions of members of the profession both in their chosen fields and beyond.
(Image: Incoming BDA President Richard Graham presents Mili Doshi with the Award for Excellence).
Read more: Dental Awards recognise exceptional service inside and beyond the profession