Three hundred dental professionals gathered in Glasgow in December to hear presentations on tooth whitening from two of the world's leading experts.

Delegates at the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners' Study Day heard that UK dental patients are set to benefit from a change in the law which will make tooth whitening safer and more effective. The new ruling by the EU allows European dentists to perform bleaching legally for the first time. The UK and Scottish governments have until September 2012 to enact the law.

Van Haywood and Linda Greenwall were the two speakers. The former is Professor in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, School of Dentistry, Medical College of Georgia. In 1989, he co-authored the first publication in the world on nightguard vital bleaching and in 1997 co-authored the first article on extended treatment of tetracycline-stained teeth using this technique. Dr Greenwall is a lecturer and authority on tooth whitening and aesthetic dentistry. In 2008 she launched the British Dental Bleaching Society and in 2010 was voted the most influential female dentist in the UK.

'It was an excellent and informative day,' said Jayne Clifford, partner at accountants Martin Aitken & Co, a gold sponsor of the event.