Sir, we would like to express our concern with reference to the letter Surgical specialist lists (BDJ 2005; 199: 249). Our concerns are threefold.

Firstly, the author is not a recognised trainer of Specialist Registrars in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and was not party to the entire discussion by the Specialist Advisory Committee to which he referred.

Secondly, the statement that Oral and Maxillofacial Specialist Registrars (in the Mersey region) were not involved in dentoalveolar surgery at the unit in question was factually incorrect, as was the assumption that a similar state of affairs exists in other units. The Specialist Registrars in Oral and Maxillofacial surgery have logbook records of their dentoalveolar surgery training validated by interim Record of In-Training Assessments.

Thirdly, we feel that the views expressed are inappropriate in view of these inaccuracies and potentially alarmist to the general public and the dental profession. We, therefore, invite the author to retract these assertions.

The author of the letter, G. Woods replies: Sir, the intent of my letter was to pose several questions about the appropriateness of the OMFS and CCST for automatic entry onto the GDC specialist Oral Surgery and Surgical Dental lists but to do so without specific criticism of any individual Spr training. I apologise if this has been misunderstood. The letter acknowledged that Spr exposure to dentoalveolar surgery probably varied throughout the UK but posed the question as to whether the variation of training is, or is likely to be, acceptable for entry/retention onto the GDC surgical specialist lists.

Given that we live in a time of radical health care change which encompasses revalidation, more specialisation within surgical specialties including OMFS and now the new government body the National Clinical Assessment Service, which is able to look into clinical performance, I still believe that my questions are worthy of consideration. Surely the GDC should continually review and consider its specific requirements for entry and retention on its lists for the protection of the public in the light of any changes in health care delivery?

In specific response to the above letter, the holder of the post of rotated Spr at Arrowe Park Hospital is not assigned to any of the our eight weekly minor oral surgical lists but does undertake dentoalveolar surgery on any case that may be allotted to them on the Tuesday list or possibly when in out-patient clinics at other times. The question in my own mind is whether the GDC will consider the extent of this type of exposure sufficient for its specialist surgical lists in the future?