Sebastian Evans

All practices want to avoid claims being made against them in employment tribunals. One of the easiest ways to avoid such claims is to ensure that your practice’s employment documentation is up-to-date. It’s a statutory requirement for employers to provide its employees with basic written terms and conditions of employment and have written disciplinary and…

Around 100 delegates, representing dentists and dental teams, attended the annual conference, titled Œ'The only way is ethics'. With patients increasingly prioritising cosmetic demands over treatment needs, the conference probed some of the most pressing ethical issues that affect modern dental professionals. Speakers drawn from leading clinicians in the field included Professor Nichola Rumsey, professor…

A new paper published in Public Health Nutrition journal by two expert advisors of Action on Sugar calls for sugar intake to be less than four teaspoons per day (less than 3% of energy intake). This is lower than the recent draft World Health Organisations guideline of less than 5% of energy intake. Sugar is…

As part of the recently announced contract reform engagement exercise, the Government has confirmed there would be no additional budget for the NHS, despite the continuing intention to provide a higher quality service to a wider percentage of the population. Squaring that circle will be a challenge and it’s not surprising that anxiety about the…

Preventive dentistry is an entire approach to patient care. Its purpose is to promote and maintain oral health. With a significant amount of turbulence on the cards for NHS dental care, is now the perfect time to consider private options? All or nothing It’s interesting to note the intention of introducing a new NHS dental…

I am delighted to hear the quango Public Health England et al are calling for reductions in sugar used in foods and drinks. One of the last big walls to fall is sugar. Smoking, cigarettes and alcohol have all been tackled. I long for the day that a mars bar costs about the same as…

The research, published in Letters in Applied Microbiology journal has found that strong black coffee has the ability to break down bacterial biofilms such as dental plaque. The team at Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University cultivated biofilms on deciduous teeth, donated by children for research. When the teeth were exposed to an extract of Coffea…

I almost resigned from a committee today on a point of principle. Sometimes it is right to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

I almost resigned from a committee today on a point of principle. Sometimes it is right to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

It’s all going so well, you’ve discussed four options for treatment, the patient chooses one and the patient you thought was happy with your proposed treatment plan, out of nowhere, starts giving you objections. What do you do? Shy away, go red, cough, discount your price or encourage them to go away and think about…

The chair of the British Dental Association's Principal Executive Committee, Mick Armstrong, met with GDC (General Dental Council) leaders and expressed his alarm at the dental regulator's plans for a 64% rise in the annual retention fee (ARF).  The proposal for the fee rise, which was announced recently, would see dentists fees rise from £576…

Oral health charity the British Dental Health Foundation asked more than 2,000 people if they were more afraid of the dentist than the UK's 10 most commonly reported phobias, according to Anxiety UK. One in three (33%) said a routine check-up was scarier than interacting with other people. Visiting the dentist also caused greater anxiety than…

From 9-11 October, BDIA (formerly BDTA) Dental Showcase will once again take over Excel London to stage the most anticipated event in dentistry.  This year’s theme is putting innovation into practice so the focus will be on taking full advantage of this opportunity to inject innovative equipment, products, services and ideas into your practice. The…

The General Dental Council (GDC) has now put in place measures to tackle the problems identified. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care's (PSA's) Performance Review Report 2013/14 was published on 27 June 2014 and can be read in full here. Overall the PSA found that the GDC is meeting its statutory requirements.…

Your hometown is London, so what brings you to Manchester? Effectively Amir Khan and his team; with their help I got my professional license with the British Boxing Board of Control. The training facilities here in their gym in Bolton and the introduction with Oliver Harrison – who used to train Amir and currently trains…

A GDC annual retention fee of £945 is crazily high for a young dentist. At what level does the fee become prohibitive to good dentistry? The #GDC should stagger it based on age or tenure in practice.