Q. My hygienists want to learn to take impressions and to carry out tooth whitening. Is it acceptable for me to run such a course? I also understand that, as long as the aims and objectives of the course are stated and a feedback form is completed by attendees, it can be certified for verifiable CPD. Does the GDC need to approve the course in some way?

Strange as it may seem there are no specific criteria or qualifications required to be a course organiser. it is entirely up to the individual concerned whether s/he feels sufficiently competent to teach a specific subject. So there is no particular difficulty with you running this course. Indeed the vast majority of DCP courses are usually run by GDPs.

You will need to ensure that the course meets the necessary learning criteria. A course on impression taking for example, is not simply a question of providing some alginate in trays and asking the individual participants to take impressions of themselves. You would need to talk about the theory of impression taking, provide some input into the dental materials being used and discuss the likely problems that could be expected, in order for the course itself to be meaningful.

Generally speaking the GDC does not approve courses (unless you are talking university degrees). It is up to the individual participants to be able to demonstrate that the course they have attended provides adequate and appropriate training in their chosen subject. This can sometimes be quite difficult to establish and it is often best to involve the Postgraduate Dean, who I am sure will be more than happy to try and assist you.

These days it is usually accepted that a course does not stop at the end of the period of teaching. Individual participants should be encouraged to treat a number of patients in their own practices under the mentoring role of their dentist. Each of the participants should also have a log book detailing these activities and only after a suitable number of patients have been treated (perhaps 10 or 15) and the mentor is confident that the individual is “safe”, would a certificate verifying the satisfactory completion of the course be issued to the individual.

There is quite a lot of organisation required in creating a course but it can also be enormously rewarding.

Dental Protection indemnifies members when they act as mentors as part of the in-house training of their staff. Click here to read DPL's position statement on mentoring.

If you decide to run courses on a commercial basis you should contact our membership team to discuss the implications for your indemnity.