DENTAL DEAN Philip Taylor reflects on recent Faculty activities that pave the way forward

Forging ahead

Philip Taylor reflects on the success of recent Faculty events and activities that create a pathway for the next 40 years

elebrations for the

C40th Anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Dental Surgery are complete and we must now look forward to the next 40 years. The three days of dental meetings were well attended and feedback has been very positive.

The first day featured the annual meeting of the Faculty of Dental Trainers (FDT), which was a rich combination of lectures and discussions on the role of online teaching in modern pedagogy.

Speakers considered the role and efficacy of webinars in effective training and where blended learning might be a better option for some learners. The perennial question of how much you can trust online content and where you might look for reassurance of accuracy against the argument of why we should change from familiar didactic teaching approaches formed the next section of the day.

This was followed by an update on what the FDT has been doing over the last year. The afternoon was a triple header on robotics and simulation, followed by a lively debate on teaching in undergraduate hospitals.

On the second day we welcomed our Dental Ambassadors from the UK and around the world to discuss the thorny but important and contemporaneous subject of sustainability in dentistry. After an introduction from the local team in Edinburgh we heard about how we can introduce a more sustainable way of working without compromising high-quality, cross-infection control postCOVID-19. We truly need to address this problem, as dentistry is one of the worst offenders in the use of disposables in all surgical practice.

KING JAMES IV LECTURES At the end of each day we were treated to the inaugural lectures of our King James IV professors and, because of the delays caused by the pandemic, we had three incumbents. Professor Barry Quinn from the University of Liverpool presented his lecture, ‘Can we simulate dental surgery in virtual worlds and how real does the simulation have to be?’, which investigated how haptics can change the way we train dentists, from undergraduate to specialist level.

Professor Douglas Peterson from Connecticut gave an inspiring lecture on his work on managing orofacial pain postorofacial cancer entitled

We were able to cement close relationships with new colleagues from two

42 | Surgeons’ News | December 2022 universities in Chennai ''

Above and above right: Tim O’Brien and Philip Taylor visit Saveetha Dental College

Below: Dental Dean Philip Taylor ‘Dental management of the oncology patient: translating research into clinical practice and improved patient care’.

Gerry McKenna from Queen’s University Belfast completed the triple bill with an excellent demonstration of how ‘Rethinking oral care for older adults’ is so important in an increasingly ageing global population.

If all that was not enough we entertained 118 colleagues and College staff at a gala dinner in Playfair Hall, where we enjoyed the sounds of a piper and the conviviality of fellowship that only our College can provide.

The Faculty must thank Linda Wilson, Cire Grimmer, Craig Brodie and Alison Amin for their hard work in putting all this together.

CHENNAI CONFERENCE Two weeks later the Dental Faculty was in Chennai, India, at the first RCSEd International Conference. The FDT was very much a part of the dental presence, and the two dental Faculties worked seamlessly to present a united message of dental excellence. Presentations from our Convenor of Dental Examinations, Tim O’Brien, FDT Director Sarah Manton and myself were anchored by our two keynote

speakers, Shakeel Shahdad and Barry Quinn. The audience was most appreciative of the opportunity to meet with the Faculty and we were able to cement close relationships with new colleagues from two universities in Chennai with exciting prospects for future collaborations in India.

As ever with these conferences, the opportunity to network was as important as the programme content, and the dental team made the most of this with new opportunities in Malaysia and in Malta for exam centres.

We also visited a leading Indian dental school, Saveetha Dental College, where we were shown the fantastic clinical and research facilities on offer to students there.

We had the opportunity to meet both in India and later online at a

We saw fantastic clinical

and research facilities ''

follow-up meeting with a recent Honorary Fellow of the Faculty, Professor Gopi Krishna, who was able to help us understand in more detail the way specialist dentistry operates in India.

BACK TO BAHRAIN Only a week after returning to Edinburgh from Chennai – to attend College Council – the Faculty travelled to Bahrain to catch up with our colleagues there. We met officials from the Ministry of Health and private practitioners, and observed the MAGDS examination being held. We have had a long-standing cooperation with Bahrain and this visit served to cement this further.

We were able to see the facilities in both private hospitals and in government-run sites, which were very impressive. Most importantly we secured a new letter of understanding between the Ministry of Health and the College, which shows our commitment to working in Bahrain.

We discussed potential plans for holding our examinations in the country and encouraged the trainers from all sectors to consider using our accreditation system to validate their courses.

We presented the Minister of Health, Her Excellency Dr Jaleela bint Alsayed Jawad Hasan, with our portfolio of examinations, and there was considerable interest in the new suite of diploma examinations, with

Below: The Faculty travelled to Bahrain to present its examination porfolio and meet with colleagues

a future opportunity to consider holding the specialty examinations in Bahrain.

MALTA MEET At the time of writing I have been invited to present in Malta in mid-November at an international conference in the country. This opens up a new opportunity to work with Malta’s Minister of Health, Christopher Fearne, to discuss a new collaboration and possible examination centre. I hope to be able to report further in future editions of Surgeons’ News.

EDUCATION CONVENOR As I mentioned in the last issue, some new faces were appointed to the Dental Executive as terms of office came to an end. I am delighted to announce that Lochana Nanayakkara has been appointed to the position of Education Convenor.

Nanayakkara works at Barts and The London Dental Hospital in Restorative Dentistry and she has been the Deputy Lead for Education at Barts NHS Trust – the largest NHS Trust in the UK – for several years. She has a wide experience of training from DCT to Consultant level. Her record includes a 100% consultant (64 consultants) buy-in for Educational Supervisor training and revalidation, which is no mean feat.

The role will be an open book for her as we look again at our education delivery from scratch in the light of post-COVID-19 requirements and detailed discussions with our partners overseas. We also hope to create a closer working relationship with our sister Faculty, the FDT.

The demitting Convenor, Richard Cure, will continue to manage the Accreditation portfolio, which is already a very popular move, with interest from all over the world. We will be looking to train new assessors for this process in the coming months so look out for the opportunity to make a difference to training the world over.

LOOKING AHEAD As you can see the Faculty has been very busy in the last few months. Beyond all the travel, we have been negotiating with the General Dental Council (GDC) regarding mediated

Right (from left): RCSEd Immediate Past President Mike Griffin, Susan Taylor, Immediate Past Honorary Treasurer Alistair Gibson, Dental Dean Philip Taylor and new Vice-President Clare McNaught at the gala dinner in Edinburgh

We have been negotiating with the GDC regarding mediated

entry – a sensitive subject ''

entry, which has become a very sensitive subject. If you’ve been waiting for progress in this respect, or have colleagues asking you what has happened, it is true that we have decided on behalf of the four Royal Colleges to temporarily stop the process at the level of Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) advice. This was for two reasons. First, if the SAC says the applicant is not suitable for admission, they can reapply. That application, surprisingly, does not go back to the SAC, but is looked at in a ‘court’ held by the GDC with no specialists in the room. This seems to be causing issues with ‘unsuitable people’ being admitted to the list.

Second, there are issues about the SAC members spending inordinate amounts of their personal time reviewing applications without being remunerated. We, as Royal Colleges, do not feel this is fair to the applicant or for the esteem of the specialty itself.

We are an integral part of the new GDC-led specialty reviews, as we will be leading on the necessary summative assessment that will link to that training. This is now very advanced and there will be more detail about the changes published in the next few months.

You can be reassured that your team is working on your behalf to ensure the RCSEd’s voice is heard across the world.

Professor Philip Taylor Dean, Faculty of Dental Surgery

If you’re a General Dental Practitioner with an interest in the dental

specialties, this could be for you.

This year, The RCSEd Faculty of Dental Surgery is introducing a new suite of open access Dental Diploma examination qualifications, set at leve two of the published speciality guidelines (which translates to Tier 2 in England and Wales).

The following sub-specialist Diplomas will be introduced:

آ Endodontics آ Dental Sedation آ Implant Dentistry آ Oral Medicine آ Oral Surgery آ Paediatric Dentistry آ Periodontology آ Prosthodontics آ Special Care Dentistry