Sir, online social media services have revolutionised our ability to communicate with others. Viewed from a dental perspective, these sites present both opportunities (advertising and professional communication) and risks, including complaints to our regulators against registrants and dental businesses.

The GDC's guidance on using social media1 states that registrants must avoid disclosing patient information, maintain appropriate boundaries with patients and comply with employer's internet and social media policies. However, this has not prevented a number of recent FTP cases where social media postings were cited among the charges.

The CQC has recently announced2 that it is considering the opportunities which monitoring of people's views on hospital services, as posted on social media sites, offers as a means of obtaining early intelligence on potential areas of concern. Technologies which assist in automating monitoring and analysis of large volumes of this type of data offer regulators a relatively cost effective oversight approach. As the regulator develops its knowledge of how to utilise this approach, it is easy to see that it could be extended to general monitoring of primary dental care services and to assist in focused investigations requiring the sifting of large amounts of data.

In an effort to gain some insight into the use of social media by the profession and the level of concern which it currently has about using it, a poll was conducted on a dental discussion group (gdpuk.com). The poll was limited to questions about the use of the largest service, Facebook.com (Fb) and focused on quantifying usage and the areas of greatest potential risk.

  • The poll found that 72% (n = 29) of those who voted have a Fb account

  • Of those who have a Fb account, only 37% (n = 19) regularly post on Fb

  • Of those who have received friend requests from patients only 31% (n = 13) have accepted one or more such requests

  • 47% (n = 15) reported that their accounts were either public or partially private while 53% operated their accounts on a fully private basis

  • The poll also asked if members would be concerned about the possibility of regulatory monitoring and analysis of their Fb posts: 57% (n = 23) indicated that they would be concerned while 43% indicated that they would not be.

Assuming that the ratio of those who have and who do not have accounts holds for the other questions, then approximately 27% of dentists may post regularly on Fb and 22% may have 'friends' who are patients. Approximately one third have partially or fully public accounts and 40% would be concerned if their posts were analysed by a regulator. Considered in the round, the poll results for Fb account holders suggest that a substantial proportion of the profession may be placing themselves and/or their provider at increased risk of investigation by a regulator. However, given that a substantial proportion of those who voted are likely to be aware of the GDC guidance, it may be that some have assessed the risks and decided to take them regardless.