September 2004, Volume 197 No s5

As the team approach to dental practice has finally been formally acknowledged with the upcoming registration of the entire clinical team, the issue of dental education has taken on new meaning. In order to meet the inevitable increase in demand for training, teaching and learning, innovative approaches will be required and dental academia will be asked to respond. The educational needs can be viewed as a three dimensional problem, increased breadth across the dental team, vertical integration within and between specialties and the expansion longitudinally with lifelong learning and continuing professional development (CPD).

The issue of underperforming health professionals and how to deal with them is a very prominent subject. In the last decade, several new legal and advisory framework initiatives (the Medical (Professional Performance) Act 1995; The Management of Doctors with Problems, DoH 1997) recommended the creation of local procedures to deal with underperforming practitioners before referral to the regulatory authority. A number of schemes for doctors were established as a result.

Since the expansion of the European Union on 1 May 2004 the interest in recruiting dentists from outside the UK has intensified. Additionally, the Department of Health's announcement in July about the modernisation of NHS dentistry included the promise to 'recruit 1000 extra NHS dentists by October 2005' and 'speed up the process for overseas dentists to register to work in the UK; adding to this interest. An overview of the different ways in which overseas dentists can be employed is provided below.

The activity of 'taking notes' is ingrained in us all from an early age. Indeed, very early on it marks the rite of passage between 'playing' at nursery school or reception class and proper work. The transition from learning through activity and discovery to what many still regard as 'proper' education involves that all-important stage of having to sit down behind a desk and start writing. After which, it never really goes away.