What we’re being asked to do in dentistry all the time now is to choose how far to push the system and run the gauntlet.
Without prescribed minimum guidance on what is acceptable treatment nor behaviour we have no ability with which to measure ourselves and are only measure when we are ‘deemed to have crossed the line’ even if we are unsure as to where the line is.
Guidelines produced by people like the faculty, which are generally aspirational, are excellent and a great target to strive for but for any such guidelines to be used to hit dentists over the head as though they were the law is entirely wrong and unfair.
When I was studying for my primary FDS all those years ago the syllabus was ‘anatomy, physiology, pathology and biochemistry in relation to dentistry’ – that was clearly ridiculous with no indication of what you should go for and an ‘old boy’s club’ to get you into an exam but the same thing seems to apply for the guidelines that we have.
I have said this before and it’s time to say it again – it’s time to start to make some noise and for people in leadership to start to do some thing about this. The production of minimum guidelines in dentistry for us all to measured against are essential for fairness.
It’s not like this is something new, it has been done and done well. During my own GDC case I was able to demonstrate that the ITI’s Consensus Conference findings and the document produced in Treatment Guide Volume 5 on sinus grafting was the ‘authoritative text’. This is set up through a systematic review of the literature and targeted questions which is then discussed by a group of experts and a consensus is then reached. This would be easy to set up in UK dentistry if there was any mind for it.
Imagine a consensus conference in consent or a consensus conference in what should be included in a basic exam – not an aspirational target but the minimum standard, below which the dentist should be either retrained or sanctioned. Without this we are just running around in the dark with live ammunition firing at each other and hoping to get the bad guys.
Blog Post Number: 1042
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