Policy statement on implantology

Dental professionals have an ethical responsibility to limit their scope of practice to what they are trained and competent to do. Any dental professional who carries out work for which they are not trained and competent puts their registration at risk.

We are issuing this policy statement in the light of concerns raised with us about the practice of implant dentistry by dentists. The GDC’s guidance on the required learning outcomes of undergraduate education for dentists ‘The First Five Years’, states that dental students should ‘be familiar with dental implants as an option in replacing missing teeth’. A UK-qualified dentist would not be expected to be competent to practise implant dentistry without undertaking structured postgraduate training and assessment of competence.

The Council supports the Training Standards in Implant Dentistry, published by the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK). We expect education providers, and dentists who wish to practise implant dentistry, to refer to these standards as the authoritative source of training standards for implant dentistry for dentists in the UK.

The GDC will also refer to the standards when assessing patient complaints against dentists who, allegedly, practise implant dentistry beyond the limits of their competence.