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Dental Protection: Sexual misconduct review shows more needs to be done to support dental professionals

Post date: 09/05/2025 | Time to read article: 2 mins

The information within this article was correct at the time of publishing. Last updated 09/05/2025

Dental Protection said the findings of a review commissioned by the GDC into sexual misconduct in dentistry highlight the need for more steps to be taken to ensure such behaviour is recognised, reported and acted on, and that staff affected feel supported.

The review found that sexual misconduct has been significantly under-reported in dentistry, with the reasons for this including unclear reporting pathways, fear of reprisal and lack of trust in administrative support.

Yvonne Shaw, Deputy Dental Director at Dental Protection, said: “All dental professionals need to be reassured that their safety is a priority.

“Experiencing or witnessing sexual misconduct – whether from a patient or a colleague – can lead to emotional distress and long-term psychological harm. It can also negatively impact an individual’s professional practice which may compromise the quality of patient care.

“It is for this reason that we support the review's recommendations to develop clear standards with respect to sexual misconduct, developing training for dental professionals in setting boundaries, identifying and managing instances of sexual misconduct, and ensuring clear and accessible reporting pathways are established.”

Dental Protection offers counselling to members with access to telephone support 24 hours a day, and face-to-face counselling sessions. This is available to any members experiencing work-related stress, or stress that they feel could impact their practice, including those who have encountered sexual misconduct in the workplace. The service is entirely confidential and independent of Dental Protection.

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For further information contact: [email protected].

For further information on Dental Protection’s counselling service: Counselling service

About Dental Protection

Dental Protection is a registered trademark and a trading name of The Medical Protection Society Limited (“MPS”). MPS is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of more than 300,000 members around the world. Membership provides access to expert advice and support and can also provide, depending on the type of membership required, the right to request indemnity for any complaints or claims arising from professional practice.

Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.

Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We do this by promoting risk management through our workshops, E-learning, clinical risk assessments, publications, conferences, lectures and presentations.

MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

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