GDC Core Principles 

The team here at St Andrews Dental Care believe in providing the very best dental care and advice available. We follow strict codes of practice, below you will find an excerpt from the Dental Protection website which are core principles we follow, and you’ll also find a wide range of useful articles too. 
 
Standards for the Dental Team is published by the General Dental Council (GDC) and came into effect 30 September 2013. The document sets out the standards of conduct, performance and ethics that govern dental professionals in the United Kingdom. It specifies the principles, standards and guidance which apply to all members of the dental team, and also sets out what patients can expect from a dental professional. 
 
The document is based on the nine principles that apply to the following registered dental professionals: 
 
Dentists 
Dental Nurses 
Dental Hygienists 
Dental Therapists 
Orthodontic Therapists 
Dental Technicians 
Clinical Dental Technicians 
 
The overarching principles, which have equal importance, are: 
 
Put patients’ interests first 
Communicate effectively with patients 
Obtain valid consent 
Maintain and protect patients’ information 
Have a clear and effective complaints procedure 
Work with colleagues in a way that is in patients’ best interests 
Maintain, develop and work within your professional knowledge and skills 
Raise concerns if patients are at risk 
Make sure your personal behaviour maintains patients’ confidence in you and the dental profession 
 
These nine principles are supplemented by additional guidance documents which can be found here 
 
Registrants have a responsibility to behave professionally and follow these principles at all times. Those who fail to meet these standards may be subject to Fitness to Practise proceedings and in some cases, removed from the GDC Register. 
 
Terminology 
 
Throughout the document the following meanings are given to the adverbs used to describe professional duties: 
 
‘must’ is used where the duty is compulsory; 
‘should’ is used where the duty would not apply in all situations and where exceptional circumstances outside your control could affect whether, or how, you can comply with the guidance. Should is also used to explain how to comply with the overriding duty. 
 
Dental Protection has already received many enquiries about the interpretation of the standards. To some extent this has been caused by the additional guidance not being available at the time that the core document was first published. 
 
As a service to members, we are publishing a series of FAQs that reflect the enquiries that we have received on the helpline. The questions are grouped according to the over-arching principle to which they are most applicable. 
 
Dental Protection will be seeking further clarification on some of the existing guidance as well as augmenting this document in the light of the additional guidance. 
 
01482 225 689 
smile@standrewsdentalcare.com 
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