Sir, we were pleased to read the letter regarding the DCT 2 equivalency published in your journal.1 We would like to share our experience as new dental graduates. We are part of the Joint Dental Foundation Core Training programme (JDFCT) initiated by Health Education England which combines the primary (DFT) and secondary care placements (DCT Year 1), starting immediately after graduation.2

As final year students, we aspired to achieve experience in both primary and secondary care in our careers. We were fortunate to select this two-year programme which involves alternate week placements in hospital and dental practice. Although this was initially a steep learning curve, the past few months have vastly and rapidly increased our scope of knowledge and practical skills. We have been provided with ample opportunities to proceed with dental procedures under supervision, including biopsies, surgical extractions and assisting in more complex head and neck surgeries such as free flap cases. Additionally, we've been fortunate to actively contribute to and engage in daily ward rounds, allowing us to assess patients both before and after surgical procedures. Furthermore, we have been able to assist with consultant-led clinics, giving us an appreciation of how referrals are handled in secondary care; this has provided us with a better understanding of the different stages of hospital-based patient management. The primary setting involves working in a dental practice as a GDP, performing most procedures such as RCTs, crowns, restorations, periodontal treatment and more.

In spite of the interruption in the continuity of our experience due to alternation of general and hospital practice, we still have the same targets as general yearly cohorts over our two years of training. These include supervised learning events (direct observation of procedural skills, case-based discussions and more), reflections and a logbook of our clinical experience, which makes the training optimal and adequate.

Despite the challenges, we highly recommend this to anyone looking to do a joint training programme as we believe this comprehensive approach ensures skill development takes precedence without any compromise on our existing clinical abilities within general dentistry.