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Introduction to professionalism and regulation

Dentists and other regulated healthcare providers are expected to behave in a “professional way” in their working lives and their personal lives, too, but it can be difficult to understand what this means and why it is important.

When it comes to day-to-day practice, professionalism is about adherence to a defined set of standards, incorporating these standards and codes of practice into everyday behaviour and performance. They are constantly evolving, and it is the role of a professional regulator to define and uphold professional standards.

What is professionalism?

Professionalism in healthcare and dentistry spans a range of behaviours, which a practitioner must adhere to both in the workplace and at home. This article includes guidance for maintaining professional boundaries with colleagues, patients, and on social media. For dentists, maintaining professionalism should be a priority throughout their career.

The GDC expects that “your personal behaviour maintains patients' confidence in you and the profession”. This includes many factors, such as maintaining appropriate personal and professional behaviour, treating others well, being honest and trustworthy, and making patient safety and care a priority.


There are currently 32 regulated healthcare occupations ranging from doctors, dentists, and nurses to pharmacists, opticians, and osteopaths. The government is responsible for deciding which occupations are regulated and by which of the health and care regulators. To work in any of the regulated healthcare professions, professionals must be registered with the appropriate health and care regulator.

Good Dental Practice

Dentists in the UK are regulated by the General Dental Council (GDC).

The GDC is a public body whose primary role is to protect, promote, and maintain the health and safety of the public. It does this by controlling entry to the dental register, setting out the standards of care and behaviour expected of all dentists and dental healthcare professionals, investigating any complaints or concerns about dentists on the register, and, in very rare cases, suspending or removing dentists from the register.

The Standards for the Dental Team is a set of GDC guidelines that set out the standards of care and behaviour expected of all dentists and dental healthcare professionals, and covers areas that include:

  • making the care of patients the first concern
  • providing a good standard of practice and care, and working within competence
  • working in partnership with patients and supporting them to make informed decisions about their care
  • treating colleagues with respect and helping to create an environment that is compassionate, supportive and fair
  • acting with honesty and integrity, and being open if things go wrong
  • protecting and promoting the health of patients and the public
Fitness to practice investigations by a regulator can arise from a range of things that could call professionalism into question - and this can relate to matters at work and outside of work

Other regulators such as the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) set similar standards of care and behaviour for medical professionals and nursing and midwifery professionals respectively.

Fitness to practice investigations by a regulator can arise from a range of circumstances that could call professionalism into question - and this can relate to matters at work and outside of work.

Dental professionalism in action

What follows is an outline of some of the most important aspects of professionalism, exploring the expectations that come around each one and how they relate to the concept of being a "good professional".

It covers aspects of professionalism that can also be referred to as probity - which directly concerns honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness of a healthcare practitioner. While probity is only a part of professionalism as a whole, the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Competency and a good standard of care

Professionalism: A mixed-methods research study was commissioned by the GDC and completed by the Association of Dental Education Europe. The research provided a comprehensive study of professionalism in healthcare and dentistry which found “clinical competence was an assumed aspect or pre-requisite for professionalism”.

This means that a dentist must be competent in all aspects of their work, recognising and working within their knowledge, skills, professional competence and abilities. They must keep up to date with developments and follow the laws, guidance, and regulations throughout their working life. It also means participating in activities that maintain or develop their knowledge and skills by continuing continuous professional development to improve their practice.

The GDC also advise that a good standard of care requires dentists to treat patients with kindness, compassion and respect by treating patients fairly, as individuals and without discrimination.

...you must work within your knowledge, skills, professional competence and abilities.

Good professionals listen to their patients and work in partnership with them, supporting patients in making informed decisions about their care and treatment. A good professional will also acknowledge a patient’s right to dignity and privacy.

For more information, please see our essential guide to consent in dental practice.

Professional boundaries in healthcare

Managing the relationship with patients also means maintaining professional boundaries. While healthcare providers are expected to show compassion and kindness when treating patients, it can be challenging to show this human side without blurring the boundary between professional and personal relationships.

The GDC is clear that you must maintain proper boundaries in the relationships you have with patients and must not take advantage of your position as a healthcare professional.

Social media for dentists

Being aware of professional boundaries extends to the use of social media. The media has reported examples of healthcare professionals revealing confidential patient information on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other forums. Healthcare professionals who fail to restrict access to their private lives risk damaging their professional image and that of the profession in general.

Dental Protection's advice is that everything posted to social networks should be treated as if it is something that has been written down; it is never truly anonymous and exists in perpetuity, meaning that the chances of such comments being traced to the author should never be disregarded. Comments made innocently about patients, treatments, or particular procedures can potentially breach confidentiality, especially if they mention unusual symptoms or conditions. Multiple pieces of seemingly anonymous information could add to up to a bigger picture.

Healthcare professionals who fail to restrict access to their private lives risk damaging their professional image and that of the profession in general

Social media is an arena within which healthcare professionals must tread carefully, mindful of their responsibility to maintain public trust and the standing of the profession. For this reason, MPS strongly advises against adding patients as “friends” on sites such as Facebook.

Additional information can be found in the following article Pitfalls of social media.

Working with colleagues

Teamwork is integral to the safe delivery of healthcare, and the professional approach to good teamwork centres on good communication, mutual respect, kindness and courtesy. This means listening to colleagues, communicating clearly, politely and considerately, and being respectful of colleagues' skills and contributions. To provide a good standard of care, professionals must work collaboratively with colleagues and be willing to offer advice and support to colleagues where required.

It is important to help to create a culture in healthcare that is respectful, fair, supportive, and compassionate - showing respect for, and sensitivity towards, one another's cultures and beliefs. A good professional will not discriminate against patients or groups of patients for any reason such as nationality, special needs, health, lifestyle or any other consideration. In addition, healthcare professionals should not behave in a sexual way towards colleagues with the effect or purpose of causing offence, embarrassment, humiliation or distress by maintaining appropriate personal and professional boundaries.

Unresolved personal or professional disagreements between healthcare professionals who share responsibility for patients are potentially prejudicial to patient care, and it is the responsibility of all who work in the clinical team, including those who manage them, to make sure that patients are protected from any adverse outcome that results from colleagues not working properly together. Independent, external professional assistance with conflict resolution may sometimes be necessary and can be extremely effective.

"A good professional will not discriminate against patients or groups of patients for any reason such as nationality, special needs, health, lifestyle or any other consideration."

Safe delegation and referral is an area of practice where professionalism can be called into question. When delegating a task or when a task has been delegated, all parties must be sure that the individual to whom the task has been assigned has the competency to carry it out. When delegating a task, the GDC says of dentists: “You should only delegate or refer to another member of the team if you are confident that they have been trained and are both competent and indemnified to do what you are asking.”

Continuity of care is essential and any transition of care, including referrals, must be properly handled. This relies on clear lines of communication with colleagues and an equally clear line of responsibility.


Read more on: Professionalism

Professional integrity

Honesty and integrity are central to probity and define how any professional person should act. This is vital in healthcare because trust is an essential part of the relationship between a healthcare professional and a patient. Patients and others often confide a great deal of personal and private information to healthcare professionals, so complete faith in their professionalism is required.

A duty to be honest and open covers all aspects of professional practice, including when:

  • Writing a CV and applying for jobs
  • Preparing clinical reports
  • Record-keeping
  • Signing or completing documents
  • Giving evidence or acting as a witness
  • Co-operating with any complaint or investigation

This means taking reasonable steps to verify information in the documents and not deliberately leaving out relevant information. For more advice on acting honestly and with integrity please see our article on Probity.

Health and care regulators are interested in how a healthcare professional acts both in a clinical setting and in their personal lives.

Acting with integrity also requires healthcare professionals to be open and honest with patients if things go wrong. The GDC has produced Duty of Candour Guidance to encourage professionals to apologise where care has fallen below the standard they should expect.

The GDC advise Healthcare professionals must:

  • tell the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family) when something has gone wrong;
  • apologise to the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family);
  • offer an appropriate remedy or support to put matters right (if possible); and
  • explain fully to the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family) the short and long term effects of what has happened.

For more information and advice on what to do when things go wrong, please read our article: Chapter 4: Professionalism - What to do when things go wrong

Health and care regulators are not only interested in how healthcare professionals practice in a clinical setting. They also take an interest in some matters that can arise in a professional’s personal life. An example of this is the requirement of dentists to inform the GDC of any criminal charges, convictions or if a “caution” has been accepted, even if the incident leading to the caution, charge or conviction is not related to clinical practice. A similar duty of disclosure is expected of other healthcare professions including doctors and nurses.

The types of things that are likely to concern the GDC include, misuse of drugs, drink-driving, safeguarding concerns and physical violence. All these scenarios could bring public confidence in the profession into question and raise concerns about an individual dentist’s professionalism and fitness to practice.

For more information about how the GDC would investigate such a concern, please go to  How do FTP hearings work?

Practitioner health

Poor physical or mental health can have an impact on the care that dentists and others provide to patients, so it is important for healthcare professionals to look after their health and to seek help from their GP or an appropriate specialist when unwell.

In particular, the GDC advise that “you must only work within your mental and physical capabilities”.

Healthcare professionals should be sufficiently immunised against common serious communicable diseases, and to report any fears they have about a potentially contagious illness.

If conditions at work or interactions with colleagues are having an impact on health then it is advisable to raise concerns through an employer, to see if any reasonable alterations at work could significantly improve wellbeing.

Focusing on effective recovery when away from work, such as hobbies, being outside, and exercising are important as well as having a low threshold to seek emotional support from close ones.

Dental students and trainees

Professionalism does not begin on the first day of graduation as a healthcare professional. When training in a trusted and respected profession, there is an expectation that students will demonstrate a high standard of behaviour at all times. The GDC, GMC, and NMC all publish clear guidance for students on expected standards of care and behaviour.

Summary of professionalism

  1. Follow regulator standards (GDC) in both professional and personal life.
  2. Maintain clinical competence, stay within abilities, and continue learning.
  3. Prioritise patient safety, dignity, confidentiality, and informed choice.
  4. Keep clear professional boundaries with patients - including on social media.
  5. Work respectfully and collaboratively with colleagues; delegate safely.
  6. Demonstrate honesty, integrity, and openness - especially when things go wrong.
  7. Protect fitness to practise by managing personal health and behaviour.

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