Sir, I read with interest the recent themed edition of BDJ In Practice, which gave a fascinating perspective on the status of implant dentistry in the United Kingdom with a range of thought-provoking articles.

From my perspective I placed my first dental implant in 2001 (closely mentored at The Eastman) and since then have developed a very broad experience of both surgical and prosthodontic elements of implant dentistry. As I now work in a dental school, I noted the highlighted comment 'undergraduate dentistry degrees providing very limited to no training. The GDC states that dental students should 'be familiar with dental implants as an option in replacing missing teeth' which considering the future cohort of patients current students and those newly-qualified will be treating, has always seemed entirely inadequate.'

When I reflect on my own undergraduate training (qualified University of Edinburgh 1993), even though dental implants as such were not part of the curriculum at that stage, a huge part of my planning and thought process in implant dentistry in 2021 relates to what I was taught as an undergraduate! By this I would highlight the excellent training I had in understanding anatomy, bone biology, hard and soft tissue healing, individual differences in inflammatory responses, manual dexterity, consent, planning for complications and failure, control of active dental disease and understanding a range of treatment modalities should always be considered.

In addition to many other areas relevant to implant dentistry, these continue to be key elements of undergraduate training across the UK, and in my opinion should continue to remain the foundation stone of skills escalation in implant dentistry.