Progressing through your CPD cycle (page 20-23).

I thought my 45 minute journey to work across London was long enough … the cover star of this issue, Carl Fenwick, travelled from Burnopfield, Newcastle Upon Tyne, to Gatwick Airport in London on a regular basis so that he could study the long-awaited RCS Diploma in Clinical Dental Technology. His hard work and patience certainly paid off as he is about to graduate with distinction and has received a special award (see page 14).

Being motivated, passionate and ambitious is an underlying theme of this issue even more than usual in Vital. We take a look at progressing through your CPD cycle (pages 20-22); feature items on running your own business, coordinating your IT systems and creating a workplace where all team members are happy; and focus on periodontics from two different perspectives (pages 24-27). Margaret Ross and her fellow researchers investigate DCP professional autonomy (page 41) and Barbara Lamb provides the lowdown on dental radiography in the verifiable CPD article on page 34. If there is no radiography course available near you, take a look at page 12 for an alternative option.

As the cooler months descend upon us, events abound on the dental calendar to keep us busy (and there's plenty of CPD on offer!). Two major DCP association conferences and the BDTA Dental Showcase are all taking place over the next few months (see the diary on page 10).

Drop Vital a line to tell us what you've been up to!

Kate Maynard Editor vitaleditorial@nature.com