Mongolian lecture a first for orthodontists

Orthodonists Keith Isaacson and Allan Thom are the first UK dental practitioners to be invited to lecture in Mongolia.

Eastman Institute first to be awarded Queen's prize

The Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences, UCL, is the first dental school to be recognised as a prize winner in The Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

The Eastman was recognised as a leading centre of expertise for postgraduate teaching, advanced research and patient care in the 2002 round of the scheme.

The Prize rewards the outstanding contribution that universities and colleges in the UK make to the intellectual, economic, cultural and social life of the nation. UCL nominated the Institute to enter the scheme, which requires a case demonstrating the contribution made in its chosen field of excellence and how this benefits the University and the wider community.

Canadian Academy honours UK dentist

Professor M.E.J Curzon was recently made an Hon Life Member of the Canadian Academy of Paediatric Dentistry at its annual conference in Toronto. Professor Curzon was honoured for his contribution to high quality dental care and teaching in paediatric dentistry.

DHST AGM notice

The Dental Health Support Trust AGM is to be held on Monday 20 January 2003 at 3.00pm in the boardroom of the Dentists' Provident Society at 9 Gayfere Street, London SW1 3HN.

Dental collection up for auction

One of the most remarkable collections of books, pictures and artefacts associated with dentistry attracted interest from dealers and collectors around the world when it went up for auction at Bonhams, raising more than £155,000.

Numbering more than 600 items, the collection was built up by the dental historian Ronald Cohen who began collecting as a student in the 1930s, acquiring prints, letters, porcelain, dentures, tooth keys, books and toothpick boxes.

A sixteenth century book by Bartolomaeo Eustachi, Libellus de dentibus was the item to attract the highest bid on the day (£6,580). Eustachi was the first person to describe teeth in any considerable detail and this was a first edition.

A Treatise on the Disorders and Deformities of the Teeth and Gums (a first edition of 1768) by Thomas Berdmore, surgeon doctor to King George III fetched £2,233 and Joseph Hurlock's A Practical Treatise upon Dentition of 1742 fetched £3,995.

Among the most valuable prints were a Thomas Rowlandson etching called The Transplanting of teeth, which fetched £2,468 and an engraving of 1523 by Lucas van Leyden which reached £2,703.

GDC take a long hard look at their cash concerns

The finances of the GDC were the subject of much debate at the council meeting on 12th November. The Department of Health's decision not to support the GDC's proposal for a £350 annual retention fee (ARF) made the council 'financially more vulnerable', in the words of the president, Professor Nairn Wilson.

Professor Wilson has described the programme of reform resulting from Implementing Change as formidable. Costing the reforms requested by the Government have proven difficult, making it hard for the finance team to plan ahead.

An example of how the reforms have altered the financial situa-tion is that the new Fitness to Practise panel - a group set up to oversee cases of alleged misconduct - must be treated as GDC employees. This in turn will have tax implications. These costs are likely to be covered by cash reserves, standing at below £700,000 at the end of last year. The council has allowed for a business recovery programme with a budget of £100,000.

The council chose not to set the ARF for 2004 and beyond. This will fall to the new council. The ARF is projected to rise by 12%.

At the meeting the council agreed that the Chief Executive should continue to identify areas where further savings could be made and manage the budget.

The council decided that a paper settling the annual retention fees for 2004 and beyond should be referred to the Finance Committee for further consideration.

The current fee scale is as follows:-

GDC Election results announced

Professor Wilson will stand down when the new council takes office in April 2003

Fifteen dentists and four Professionals Complementary to Dentistry (PCDs) have been elected by the profession to serve on the new General Dental Council.

By region, they are:-

England, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands:-

Mr Rajkumar Raja Rayan OBE, Mr Paul Andrew Cook, Mr David Andrew Keetley, Mr Josef Lionel Rich OBE, Ms Alison Ruth Lockyer, Mr Anthony John Kilcoyne, Mrs Meredyth Cheryl Bell MBE, Mr Michael Vernon Martin, Mr David Anthony Phillips OBE, Mr John David William Barnard CBE and Mr John Norman Chope

Scotland

Mr Hew Byrne Mathewson and Mr Denis John Toppin

Wales

Mr Trevor Thomas Griffiths

Northern Ireland

Mr Richard Graham

PCD members

Ms Sheila Yvonne Phillips, Miss Mabel Slater, Miss Julia Brewin and Mrs Rosemarie Khan OBE

Four new lay members have been appointed to serve on the new General Dental Council. They are Peter Catchpole, Suzanne Cosgrave, Lesley Kant and Carol Varlaam.

All six lay members of the existing Council will be re-appointed to the new Council. They are Caroline Abel Smith OBE, Joan Aitken, Brian Coulter, David Herbert DLitt, Sally Irvine and Derek Prentice.

Private Patient Complaints

The Council considered the report of the Private Patients Complaints Working Group. It was agreed that the Group should carry out further detailed work on its proposed Scheme to investigate how to learn from complaints raised by private patients

In 2001, the Council set up a Private Patients Complaints Working Group to look at how non-NHS patient complaints, which do not raise a question about the dentist's con-tinuing registration, could be dealt with more effectively. At its meeting in May 2002, the Council gave the go-ahead to the Group to consult on its proposals for a non-NHS dental care complaints scheme. The proposals included:

  • To set up a complaints scheme which would provide an information service and a com-plaintsresolution service;

  • That the Council should fund the complaints scheme;

  • That the complaints scheme should be operationally separate from the Council.

Dental Bodies Corporate

The Council debated the issue of the future regulation of dental bodies corporate (DBCs). It agreed to continue to formulate an approach to future corporate regulation which meets the requirements of dental patients and to explore with other healthcare regulators and Government the prospect of a joint approach to the regulation of healthcare bodies corporate including the possibility of using established inspection agencies to undertake part of, or all, the regulatory duties.

The Council is committed to reforming the current regulatory framework for DBCs. The Council has formed a working group with the General Medical Council, General Optical Council and Royal Pharmaceutical Society to identify common regulatory goals, problems and potential solutions, in order to regulate healthcare bodies corpo-rate in a consistent way for patients.

The Council has also written to the 27 existing DBCs asking for their views on how regulation might be improved to better protect patients.

Possible approaches to the regulation of corporate dentistry include:

  • using National Care Standards Commission standards and regulations as a template for DBC regulation, or

  • exploring the potential for part or all of the regulation of DBCs through the NCSC and its sister organisations elsewhere in the UK.

Maintaining Standards Review

The Council discussed the Maintaining Standards Review Group's report and endorsed the approach proposed by the Review Group to formulating revised guidance, agreeing that:

  • The primary objective of the Council's ethical guidance should be to act as a guide for individual practitioners on the principles of ethical practice.

  • The guidance should establish the framework of principles and values within which a dental professional should operate and provide guidance on how to make decisions within that framework.

  • The guidance should be addressed to individual practitioners but will also serve to explain the ethical framework of dental care to patients and healthcare providers.

  • Ethical guidance should be addressed to the whole dental team on the basis that the same ethical principles will apply to all members of the team, even though how they apply them will differ according to their roles and circumstances.

  • Ethical guidance should not include detailed technical guidance nor should it operate as a rule book.

  • If there is a need for the Council to issue detailed guidance on specific complex issues, this should produced separately from the ethical guidance. This could be done either in different publications or as an Annex to the ethical guidance. The Working Group recommends that work continues on identifying issues which may need this sort of approach.

  • The guidance should be clear and understandable for practitioners and members of the public alike.

  • The guidance will continue to be the main vehicle for the Council to express its views on the standards expected of dental professionals. An important secondary use of the ethical guidance will therefore be to inform decision-making at the various stages of fitness to practise procedures, by illustrating the principles promoted by the Council.

Body found near Chorley

A body was discovered on 26th July 2002 in a drainage ditch on Mill Lane, Charnock Richard, near Chorley. The body is believed to be an adult male (possibly Asian), probably in his mid to late twenties, about 5' 7" tall, of slender build. The post mortem interval is a minimum of 4 months and possibly 12 months, so the person probably went missing in early 2001.

Two views of a clay reconstruction of the victim

The dental records indicate the following:

  • the upper left and right incisors, the lower right central incisor and the lower left second premolar have been lost after death, but would have been present in the mouth before death. As they have not been found, their status is unknown.

  • The dental arches are relatively small. The teeth are reasonably well aligned - but there is some rotation of the upper right second premolar and second molar.

  • There are no lower wisdom teeth. The upper wisdom teeth are present but unerupted and would most likely not have been visible in the mouth.

  • The lower left and right molars have been lost some time ago – possibly to relieve crowding. The lower left second molar has drifted mesially. On the right, the second premolar has drifted distally and lies next to the second molar.

  • It is most likely that the upper left and right first molars were also lost some years ago – perhaps to relieve crowding. The gaps have closed with the second premolars.

  • The remaining teeth have no restorations and no decay. There is no appreciable wear and minimal staining. There is some mild hypoplasia.

  • There is some calculus, mainly around the lower incisors. Bone levels are generally good.

Anyone with any information relating to the identity of this individual should contact D.C. Scott of the Lancashire Constabulary on 01257 246 271 or in writing at St Thomas's Road, Chorley, Lancs PR7 1DR.

New Year Honours announced

The following have been honoured in the Queen's New Year Honours list. A full report will follow in the next issue of the BDJ.

CBE

Professor Thomas Lehner Chair, Basic and Applied Immunology, University of London. For services to Oral Immunology and Dental Health.

Maj Gen John Anthony Gamon QHDS Late Royal Army Dental Corps.

OBE

Dr Anthony Stephen Kravitz Chairman, General Dental Services

Committee, British Dental Association. For services to dentistry.

MBE

Patricia Anne Harle For services to dental nursing.

Gay Sandra Kettle For services to dental therapy. President of the Dental Therapists Association.

Diary

February 2003

Career opportunities in UK dentistry Date: 7.02.03 Venue: Royal College of Physicians, London Contact: Wendy Taylor, Eastman Dental Institute Tel: +44 (0) 207 905 1244 Email: w.taylor@eastman.ucl.ac.uk

March 2003

American Association for Dental Research (AADR) Exhibition Date: 13.03.03–15.03.03 Venue: San Antonio, Texas, USA Contact: Michael Dominguez, CMP Exhibits Manager, IADR/AADR Central Office, 1619 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-3406, USA. Tel: (001) 202 887 0788 Fax: (001) 202 861 9799 Email: michael@iadr.org

April 2003

NCCG Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Conference Date: 9.04.03-11.04.2003 Venue: The Manor House, University of Birmingham Contact: Gerry Flaum or Carolyn Evans, Birmingham Dental Hospital Tel: +44 (0)121 236 8611 Website: www.baoms.org.uk/ncgcg.html Email: C.R.E.Evans@bham.ac.uk

South East Thames Division FGDP Scientific Meeting: 'Will they tell us something new?' Date: 11.04.03 Venue: The Salomons Centre, Southborough, Kent Contact: Mrs Elizabeth Jarrett, Administrative Secretary, FGDP (UK) SE Thames Division, 'Sunrise' 1 Park Crescent, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 2QP. Tel: +44 (0)1892 654384 Email: elisabeth.jarrett@btinternet.com

May 2003

ADI Congress and Exhibition: Implantology Teamwork Date: 09.05.03-10.05.03 Venue: International Congress Centre, Birmingham Contact: Mrs Cherry Wilson, ADI Secretariat, 37 Halford Road, Richmond, Surrey. TW10 6AW. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8332 0321 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8940 0337 Email: adi.uk@btinternet.com