• The BDA is hosting a new training event designed to help dentists detect signs of oral pre-cancer and cancer. It is hoped the event will help save patients' lives and, by doing so, prevent dentists from being swept up in the growing wave of legal cases being brought against practitioners by patients whose symptoms have been missed. The one day course for the whole dental team will run for the first time on 25 November during Mouth Cancer Action Month 2011 at the BDA's London headquarters. http://www.bda.org/events/958-training-essentialsoral-cancer-the-dental-team's-responsibilityfriday-25-november-2011london.aspx

  • New figures published by the NHS Information Centre in October show a fall in dentists' average taxable income of 5.2% in 2009/10 compared with 2008/09. The average taxable income for all self-employed primary care dentists in England and Wales in 2009/10 was £84,900, compared to £89,600 in 2008/09, according to the report Dental earnings and expenses, England and Wales 2009/10. The figures represent a significant pay cut and reflect increases in practice expenses of 3.1% over the period, following an increase of 7.6% in expenses in the previous year.

  • The BDA is pleased to see the publication of a World Health Organisation (WHO) report on the use of different materials in dental fillings. The report, Future use of materials for dental restorations, says that it may be prudent to consider a phasing-down, rather than a phasing-out, of the use of dental amalgam and calls for a multi-pronged strategy with short-, medium- and long-term elements. It also contends that the quality of alternatives to amalgam must be further improved for use in public dental care, arguing that a progressive move away from amalgam would be dependent on that quality improvement being achieved.