Although the Principles are designed to cover the core elements of what it means to be a professional in dentistry, it will still be necessary for the GDC to issue specific and detailed guidance to our registrants in certain areas. 

Therefore, in this example framework, we include guidance where there is:

• A legal or professional obligation for all dental professionals, 
• A topic where no other guidance exists, or 
• Guidance for this topic exists but additional clarification from the regulator is required

For topics which don’t meet the above criteria, we think dental professionals should be sign-posted to the authoritative body on that topic or directed towards supporting materials provided by the GDC. These materials will be discuss in the following section.