John Tiernan, Director of Educational Services at Dental Protection explains the importance of the original patient record when your clinical skills face a legal challenge and emphasises the consequences if a dental professional changes a clinical record in an attempt to cover up a mistake.

Asking for payment, explaining costly treatments and broaching the subject of bad debts can all be difficult and unfamiliar in the early years of practice. Whilst at dental school, many undergraduates transform the business of asking for money almost into an art form; with the bank manager's direct line stored prominently in the mobile in case urgent funding for an emergency (such as an elective in Aruba) is instantly required! However, on graduating and moving into practice, some dentists find themselves feeling strangely uncomfortable when it comes to asking for payment.

Leaving one dental practice and starting afresh is an exciting time, especially when you have a long career in front of you that is full of opportunities. It may therefore seem odd to be thinking about how you are going to leave a practice when some of you are only just beginning to settle in, but there are some important considerations to keep in mind for the future.

Corporate dentistry has taken an increasing share of the NHS dental market since the inception of nGDS in 2006. The largest player, IDH, has slowly and quietly acquired more and more practices and contracts.

Joe Ingham explains why some practice owners and associates don’t always agree during their professional relationship.

This article critiques working in a regionally based versus a metropolitan practice in the early phase of your dental career, highlighting the adventures, advantages and pitfalls of each.

Raising finance for purchasing a practice is becoming more difficult, despite funds being available and European finance guarantees in place to assist.

A pain in the neck and the back is not the way you want to perform in the dental profession. Too many of its professional members suffer unnecessarily whilst trying to apply their mix of clinical, business and communication skills whilst running a dental practice.

One of the advantages of keeping careful and detailed records of a patient’s pain history is that it highlights significant changes and developments in the features of the patient’s symptoms which can, in turn, lead the clinician to the correct diagnosis.

People are living longer, and more people are retaining their teeth into later life. Consequently, the overall potential periodontal risk is rapidly increasing. Most allegations of undiagnosed, untreated and under-treated periodontal disease arise when a patient sees a new dentist for the first time. This may result from the retirement of the patient’s previous dentist, or simply because the dentist has left the practice. Sometimes the patient attends a different dentist in an emergency situation, or following the sale of the practice where they have been treated over many years.

We believe that we are uniquely placed to appreciate the role that CPD can play in the areas of professional performance, patient safety and the quality of patient care.