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Following one of the most eventful years in living memory, we look back and review the biggest dental news headlines of 2020.

January

Burnout causing half of dentists to consider leaving dentistry

Not a very cheery start to our 2020 round up. But then again, the year wasn’t especially uplifting. Looking at this headline, you would be forgiven for thinking COVID-19 had already started to devastate on a worldwide scale. But even before the virus made itself internationally known, a survey showed half of the dental profession had considered leaving the job due to reasons of personal wellbeing.

Has referring for NHS care become a postcode lottery?

Dentist Neel Kothari questions whether referring for NHS care is unnecessarily complicated and problematic. He describes his fear of further restrictions and challenges as resources become more stretched. Unfortunately, it’s an apt and timely piece considering the rollercoaster that 2020 would be for … Read the rest

A six-figure donation of toothpaste tubes has been made to those in need in Greater Manchester.

The Oral Health Foundation and the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy joined forces with GSK to supply more than 100,000 tubes of Sensodyne toothpaste to the vulnerable.

Assisted by Manchester-based charity Community 4X4, the efforts will see toothpaste distributed across the area to a range of different groups.

This includes homeless people, care home residents, those who use food banks and those who struggle to access dental products, or have limited financial resources.

Necessity, not a luxury

Dr Ben Atkins, president of the Oral Health Foundation, hopes this donation will help those in greatest need at a time of unprecedented difficulties.

‘It’s vital that oral health is maintained, not just for health of the mouth but also for mental health as well,’ he said.

‘We hope that this donation of Sensodyne toothpaste … Read the rest

The Online Dentistry Show is back by popular demand, running on the 19 March 2021 and completely free to attend.

This is the second year running the virtual exhibition and conference for UK dentistry. And 2021’s Online Dentistry Show promises to be bigger and better than before.

To register for free, simply visit dentistry.6connex.eu/event/onlineshow/register.

Leading speakers from the dental profession will also offer delegates up to six hours of ECPD throughout the day. They will appear across three lecture theatres covering:

• Private dentistry
• Digital dentistry
• Clinical dentistry.

‘The Online Dentistry Show 2021 promises to deliver leading speakers covering topics delegates won’t want to miss,’ Seb Evans, Dentistry Online editor, says.

‘In 2020, thousands of delegates logged on for the inaugural Online Dentistry Show and the feedback we received was great.

‘So, this year, we’ve gone bigger and better. Consequently, along with a leading line up of speakers, delegates can … Read the rest

Tony Kilcoyne talks about his re-election to the BDA, the agreed external investigation and his hopes for the future in 2021. 

So how has it been since you were elected by BDA members back onto the BDA PEC board TK?

Well it certainly has been an amazing five months since resigning and then being re-elected in that time. I’d like to thank all the BDA members for voting me back, given all that has happened, with the aim to fix and improve the BDA at the top – not break it!

The BDA CEO Martin Woodrow called me to tell me the result. I was told I received the most votes for the two UK PEC seats. So I get the longer term of three years, but I don’t officially start until the 1st January 2021.

I have also spoken to the new BDA PEC chair Eddie Crouch and communicated … Read the rest

With diabetes growing in prevalence, Sarah Bradbury explains the important role dental professionals play as well as their increased risk.

Someone is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes. Dental professionals have an important part to play in that diagnosis and helping people understand the risks and symptoms.

Not only are dentists best placed to note gum problems and periodontal disease that are symptomatic of diabetes, but also because people with diabetes are more likely to have severe symptoms when they contract coronavirus and an increased risk of in-hospital death.

The facts

More people than ever are at risk of type 2 diabetes in the UK. If there isn’t a significant change, Diabetes UK (a leading diabetes charity) predicts more than five million people could develop diabetes by 2025.

Around 90% of people with diabetes have type 2. Type 2 is insulin resistant and we can often prevent it with … Read the rest

In the previous column we introduced the topic of tooth wear. We discussed aetiology, and what to look for when assessing and diagnosing tooth wear cases.

Over the next two columns we will build on this and dive deeper into restorative interventions.

We can split the restorative treatment of tooth wear into two broad categories

• Restorative intervention conforming to the patient’s current occlusion
• Restorative intervention reorganising the patient’s occlusion.

In this column we will discuss treatments that conform to the patient’s current occlusion.

Conformative toothwear treatment

Conformative restorative treatment involves placing restorations at the patients current intercuspal position (ICP) and occluso-vertical dimension (OVD). This is more straightforward than reorganising the patient’s occlusion, and usually less invasive.

Unless there is a good argument for reorganising, we tend to think that we should use the conformative approach. After all, this is the way we commonly work in day-to-day dental practice.

Common … Read the rest

Asha Pandya-Sharpe explains the importance of hobbies away from dentistry and how to ensure dentists and dental professionals don’t come away with aches and pains.

Please introduce yourself

I’m Dr Asha Pandya-Sharpe. I’m a Bristol Dental School 2020 graduate (minus the graduation ceremony) working as a newly-qualified dentist in the south west and I’m absolutely loving it.

I am the foundation rep for Mentors4dentists, a Dentinal Tubules start membership rep and finalist for both the 2020 Future of Dentistry and FGDP ‘Dental Student of the Year’ awards.

What do you get up to in your spare time away from dentistry?

I’m currently still learning to juggle work life, keeping up with continuous e-portfolio DFT reflections, staying active and keeping myself sane through the pandemic.

I find peace from the world of work by indulging in food, dancing Kizomba (a couples dance originating from Angola), and practising Pilates.

Are you a

Missed out on this week’s dental news? No problem, here’s what happened over the past seven days…

COVID-19 – dentists’ confidence hits seven-year low

Dentists’ confidence has hit a seven-year low, according to new data from Lloyds Bank. Part of the reason for this is that 73% of dentists are expecting financial pressures to grow over the next five years. And it seems many have made up their mind about the solution, 62% claim they’ll cut back on the proportion of NHS work they carry out. Dentistry is already struggling to recruit. Just this month we heard of two practices shutting due to staff shortages. The increased litigation, red tape, work load, and relative decrease in NHS salary is starting to show. The future of NHS dentistry is looking particularly worrying right now.

Eight million people waiting for an NHS dental appointment

On top of this, new figures … Read the rest

Kimberley Lloyd-Rees uncovers another layer to the complex issue of e-cigarettes and asks: does vaping cause caries?

Discussions around vaping are becoming more prevalent in daily practice.

Patients ask: ‘Are vapes any better than cigarettes?’. Others ask: ‘I read that someone died because of vapes, is this true?’

The conversation is ongoing between colleagues about whether we should be recommending the use of e-cigarettes.

Towards the end of last year, a cluster of deaths in the US were linked to vaping-related lung illnesses. This led to international headlines. Anyone who has started to dig deeper into vaping will have realised the complexity of the subject.

For one, there are few long-term studies available. Additionally, the laws, regulations and culture around vaping are different in the UK than in America. America is where much of the negativity and warnings surrounding the use of e-cigarettes originates.

If any of your patients are … Read the rest

Dental patients from ethnic minority backgrounds have significantly lower levels of satisfaction. 

This is according to a new report carried out by the General Dental Council (GDC).

It revealed that while satisfaction with dental care was high (96%), it was dramatically lower amongst ethnic minority patients (91%).  In addition, black patients are the least likely to be happy with care and treatment, with a satisfaction rate of just 83%.

‘It is reassuring that satisfaction levels overall remain very high. But the significantly lower levels amongst people from ethnic minority backgrounds are a cause for concern,’ said GDC executive director of strategy, Stefan Czerniawski.

‘This is an important challenge to all of us involved in dentistry as we have a shared responsibility to ensure equality in the provision of dental services.

‘For the GDC’s part, we are increasing our focus on big data analysis to better enable the identification of important … Read the rest