Dental specialists

There are 13 dental specialities recognized by the General Dental Council (GDC):

Registered General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) can practice dentistry in any of the specialities, i.e. a GDP can carry out endodontic treatment or carry out treatment on children; however dentists can only call themselves a specialist in one of these particular fields of dentistry if they meet the minimum required standards of training as set by the GDC. The main purpose of the speciality list is to protect the public from misleading claims of a dentist; a specialist in a certain field of dentistry must have a certain minimum standards of training and expertise in that particular speciality, and all consultants must be on the speciality list.

To become recognised as a specialist, trainees must undergo a training pathway which involves many years of training and examinations.

All dentists will have first successfully completed five years of undergraduate training and awarded a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS or BChD) to be registered with the GDC, which allows them to practice dentistry in the UK.

A minimum of two years of postgraduate general professional training (GPT) is essential. This normally involves vocational training (VT), senior house officer (SHO), house officer (HO) and/or community dental service (CDS) positions.

In most specialities, the Diploma of Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) or equivalent is required or at least highly recommended. Other entry qualifications may also be required.

Trainees must then undergo specialist training on a Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC) approved programme. This is usually a minimum of three years for most specialities, but can be up to four or five years for others. During this time, trainees will often work as specialist registrars (SpR) in the hospital setting, whilst continuing their postgraduate academic study in a university.

On successful completion of training and examinations, trainees will be awarded either a Speciality Membership or an Intercollegiate Fellowship with the Royal Colleges of Surgeons. Candidates can then apply for the Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST), which is essential to be placed on the General Dental Council's specialist list.

Specialists may then either work in a specialist practice, the community dental service, or hospital service. With some specialities, the CCST lead directly to a consultant appointment, and sometimes additional training is necessary.

In some cases, a dental practitioner may be known as a Dentist with a Special Interest (DwSI). These dentists can offer a wider range of treatments in addition to their normal general dental treatments, including some that were traditionally only offered in the hospital setting. They serve to reduce waiting times for specialist services and provide more convenient treatment for patients in a local setting. DWSIs are appropriately trained practitioners who have developed skills and knowledge in their particular field of interest over a period of time through additional qualifications and practical experience. Patients may be referred to DWSIs for treatments such as those diseases or infections involving the root of the tooth or the gums; the treatment provided by a DWSI should be of same standard as a consultant. However, DWSIs do not replace specialists and consultants, and do not have the same range of clinical services as specialists or consultants, and will refer patients to a specialist when necessary.

Build Your 2021 Medical Practice Marketing Strategy With 10 Questions

Partner, Director of Strategy & Insights at RUNNER Agency.

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Now is the time to radically rethink how you market your medical practice. This year, the digital landscape grew by what seems like decades within a matter of a few months. Technology adoption accelerated rapidly across nearly every industry. For medical practices, we saw not only a rush to provide telehealth solutions, but also increased competition and spending in digital media channels.

Simply put, many of your patients have become more digitally savvy, and your competition probably has too. 

One of the keys to success in 2021 is a well-built digital marketing strategy. It can provide alignment with your team, clarity in your messaging and prioritization of your marketing tactics.

To help with your planning, here are 10 questions that can help you build the foundation of any digital marketing strategy.

1. What are our practice goals?

Think of your goals as your overall desires and consider your strategy for how to get what you want. Don't overthink your goals, and don't set too many, or you may not achieve any of them.

Example: "Get enough new patients to add another physician to the practice."

2. What are specific, measurable outcomes to reach those practice goals?

Your objectives should have measurable results. Objectives that are too lofty aren't really objectives; they're goals. 

Example: "Add 15 patients per month."

3. Who's our competition?

While this may seem like a straightforward question, telehealth has changed this dramatically. You may no longer be competing against only the physicians and practices in your area — telehealth competitors from other locations or national brands are now likely going after the same patients.

In addition, for some medical specialties, if you have expanded lines of service — like orthopedics and pain management — you're really competing in multiple categories.

4. How is our practice really different?

This is perhaps the most difficult question to answer. Many medical practices don't answer it at all, or they rely solely on physician credentials to differentiate themselves. While physician credentials are key, many patients said they would switch providers because of factors like safety and access (download required). 

Don't fall into the "better" trap when thinking about differentiation. Think about the treatments you offer, your patient experience and even the point of view you have on the category.

5. Who is our ideal patient?

Ensure that you have a clear picture of your ideal patients and build your marketing for them. Document it so you can create alignment across your teams and partners. Examples include the specific conditions your ideal patients have, the treatments they may need and what types of insurance they have.

This is particularly important to understand for your paid advertising efforts, as well as focusing your content creation efforts to impact SEO. You don't want to waste any of these efforts on the wrong patients.

6. What problems do we solve for them?

Your patients may stop paying attention if you stop talking about their problems. Yet many medical practices talk only about their own expertise or the services they provide.

Don't forget about the services you provide, but focus on the issues your patients are grappling with. Your practice has an opportunity to get more patients to choose you by empathizing with their problems. Spend some time reading through your practice reviews to get an understanding of the problems you're solving and how it makes patients feel. You may be surprised.

7. What are our key messages?

Take the time to outline your key messages. Some of the answers above — the problems you solve and what makes your practice different — should absolutely be a part of those messages. If your practice is self-pay, think about any offers you want to include in your marketing.

Most importantly, think about the call to action that's in your key messages. Are you trying to drive calls, online appointment scheduling or something else? 

8. What content should we create?

The content you create for your practice should be directly related to your ideal patient definition, as well as the problems you solve. All content for a medical practice will generally fall into a couple of categories — educational content such as research on conditions and treatments, and decision-making content such as information about your practice. Be sure to address both types.

Perhaps the most important decisions are the format of your content and how you distribute it. Don't get stuck on blog posts alone. Make sure you're distributing content to your practice and physician listings, for example. Leverage video content as much as possible — we've found that it's more noticeable and does a better job of showing empathy.

9. What platforms are we prioritizing?

Focus on doing a good job on one channel before you diversify. One of the biggest mistakes a medical practice can make is spreading their investment of time and advertising dollars across too many channels. The foundation for most medical practices should be pay-per-click search advertising and Facebook remarketing. Why? Because search engine advertising captures those actively seeking treatment, and remarketing ensures that you stay in front of those who are looking. Stay focused on nailing these channels before expanding.

10. How will we measure success?

Lastly, don't get distracted by vanity metrics like traffic or click-through rates. Focus on the six essential key performance indicators for medical practices that include new patient leads, cost per lead, conversion rates and cost per patient.

The Foundation Of Your Practice Marketing Strategy

In the new healthcare digital marketing landscape, you can't afford to continue winging it or buying cookie-cutter marketing solutions from partners that don't understand your business. 

Answering these 10 questions can provide you with the foundation of a digital marketing strategy that allows you to put together meaningful plans for 2021. They can help you position your practice, develop key messages and content, decide how to reach new patients and measure the impact of your efforts. Questioning the way you've always done things may be the key to getting the growth you deserve.

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MSc Oral Medicine

The MSc in Oral Medicine is a one-year full-time programme aimed at qualified dental clinicians wishing to develop competencies in clinical oral medicine.

Students will undertake the MSc in a research-active and specialist clinical academic environment.

The emphasis will be on the recognition, investigation, diagnosis and management of patients presenting with common oral and maxillofacial diseases.

It will also provide a sound grounding in the fundamental principles of UK specialist practice.

It incorporates the basic principles of research that are relevant to clinical and modern translational practice.

You will gain appropriate specialist experience and professional attributes that can be translated into routine working practice.

"I have very rarely, if ever, taken verbal examinations. This changed as I got to Bristol. Being examined by world-renowned, well-published attendings would make even the most knowledgeable student uneasy. Surely enough, by the end of the year, I feel uniquely prepared to tackle the clinical questions that any residency attending would ask. I would do so using these same skills that I have heaped, scraped up, and struggled upon during my time here. Therefore, when asked how far I’ve come clinically since that moment before I got to Bristol, I have only this to say; as far as the east is from the west, and as differing as day and night."  Simone Sealy, MSc Oral Medicine graduate