New guidance from the General Dental Council (GDC) on how the dental team can best work together in the interests of patients comes into effect on 1 February 2006.

The new guidance, Principles of dental team working, is the fourth in the GDC's Standards for dental professionals series. It explains what the dental team is; the individual responsibilities of dental professionals within the team; and how to work effectively as a team, whether or not all the team members are based on the same site. Principles of dental team working provides a framework for the whole dental team, including dental nurses and dental technicians and the other groups of dental care professionals who will begin to register with the GDC for the first time later this year.

The GDC will send a copy of Principles of dental team working to all the dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists on their register later this month. New registrants, including the new groups of dental care professionals, will receive a copy when they join the GDC's registers. Two more pieces of GDC guidance are planned for publication in the spring — one covering Raising matters of concern, and the other on Complaints handling.

Registrants who have not received their copy of Principles of dental team working by 1 February, should contact the GDC (email: professionalstandards@gdc-uk.org, phone: 020 7887 3800).