Sir, it is with great sadness that during our professional careers, we have watched the growth of commercialism in the marketing of dental services.

It is not that we are against patients being informed of what the profession can offer, where to obtain it and the sort of services offered in a particular practice, it is just that it appears that the current manner of promotion is becoming more and more commercial. We were particularly concerned to see in the colour supplement of the Sunday Times on 6 November 2005, dentists allowing their patients' names to be published. Bearing in mind Section 3 in Standards for dental professionals regarding confidentiality, published by the General Dental Council, we sincerely hope that they had the permission of the patients to do so. One wonders what the benefit is of publishing these names other than marketing for the practitioner.

It was also stated by a dentist in that article that anyone can say they are a specialist. That may be the case but the General Dental Council clearly states that only those on our Specialist List can call themselves a specialist, anyone doing so who is not on the Specialist List would be in contravention of the General Dental Council regulations. This seems proper and correct, and as stated by the General Dental Council, it enables patients to identify registered dentists who have met certain requirements and been given the right by us to call themselves a specialist.

The question that we put to the profession for debate is: 'Are the current methods of marketing dentistry by dentists beneficial to patients and do they enhance the reputation of the profession in the public's eye?'