Dr Surinder Bhatti of Slade Dental Practice in London has become the last candidate to successfully obtain the Diploma of Membership in General Dental Surgery (MGDS) from the Royal College of Surgeons of England and at 31 years of age, also happens to be youngest in its history.

The MGDS exam has been running from 1979 and is being discontinued at the England College. However the Glasgow and Ireland Colleges will continue to offer the exam. In the UK there are fewer than five hundred holders of this diploma.

The MGDS has now been incorporated within the FGDP(UK) Career Pathway in dentistry, which provides a career development framework for the primary dental care practitioner, ultimately leading to the Fellowship of the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK)