News

We wish to bring to your attention that The Office of Chief Dental Officer, and NHS England & NHS Improvement National Diabetes Prevention Programme have produced the commissioning standard: Dental Care for People with Diabetes. This Commissioning Standard will support the local implementation of pathways for patients to enable the benefits of timely and effective periodontal management on oral health and importantly general health to be realised. It recognises that people with type 2 and type 1 diabetes need to access effective dental care and that care pathways should be developed to support this. This will require local engagement between providers and commissioners of dental services and diabetes services, and the commissioning of dental services with the appropriate skills and competences to deliver the care required.

The Oral Health Foundation has released its new corporate strategy. They are aiming to focus not just on the UK but also global oral health demands and inequalities, from now until 2024. It is available on their website.

The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee is holding an inquiry into dentistry services. The Committee is inviting written submissions on the following issues: • What is the state of the relationship between the NHS and dentistry? How satisfactory are the arrangements for the provision of dental services by the NHS? Are current arrangements contributing to the widening of health inequality? • How could access to NHS dentistry be improved? Are there inequalities in access to dentistry services? If so, why, and what could be done to address them? • Where does dentistry fit within NHS primary care services? What opportunities are presented by the development of primary care networks? • What issues are affecting the wider dental workforce? What steps need to be taken to address them? Is sufficient data available on the workforce and if not, how should it be improved? • What are the issues in commissioning and payment systems for NHS dental services? How can they be improved? • What needs to be included in, or removed from, the forthcoming NHS dental contract? • Is there enough focus on prevention in dentistry and what are the avoidable harms that could be addressed? What more can be done to encourage prevention and what can be learnt from best practice in other parts of the UK and EU? • What should be done around fluoridation policy and what is the evidence base to support it?

It looks like summer may have finally arrived (at least in the South East of England) and so there is a tendency for people to take their foot off the pedal and (justifiably) enjoy the sunshine. This should also make you feel better generally (evidence based) and increase your vitamin D levels (which may also be good for all sorts of reasons - evidence based), although of course one should be careful about UV exposure (more evidence based!).

Did you know... to reflect our commitment to progression and innovation, the BSP awards annual prizes for research and periodontology, both for undergraduate, postgraduate and qualified dentists, hygienists and therapists?

The EFP have launched a toolkit on their website relating to the 2017 Classification. The toolkit – available at perioclassification.efp.org – comprises five guidance notes and four expert presentations, with infographics and videos to be added later. Also available are the introduction and consensus reports of the 2017 World Workshop on the Classification of Periodontal and Peri-implant Diseases and Conditions, which form the basis of the material in the toolkit.

We have received two communications from The Office of the Chief Dental Officer which we would like to share with our membership:

In November 2017, the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) launched The Oral Health & Pregnancy project. The aim of the Oral Health and Pregnancy project, a collaboration between the EFP and Oral-B, was to promote women’s oral health during pregnancy through guidelines for patients and for healthcare professionals.

The GDC have recently released some interesting analysis and positive helpful guidelines on the volume and nature of cases that they have had to deal with, and what can determine how things either go forwards or are dismissed at an early stage. Although of course we know that we will all strive to offer the best care that we can, you may find it informative and useful to look at these documents (which are very readable) and perhaps share with colleagues in your teams.