DSC Chair at the Dental Leadership Network

The Chair of the Dental Schools Council, Professor Ewen McColl, recently gave the keynote address at the recent Dental Leadership Network event in London. Professor McColl highlighted the significant challenges to delivering effective oral health care across the UK and the importance of such collaborative events in helping to improve access to care for our patients:

“With regards to Dental Education and my role as Chair of Dental Schools Council(DSC) there are similarly challenges facing Dental Schools in UK and Ireland , represented by DSC . With so many high quality applicants in the UK and Ireland for undergraduate Dentistry and Dental Therapy courses it would seem essential that government funding supports work force generation, whilst supporting the school leavers of today in having a realistic chance of gaining a place at dental school.

UK and Irish Dental Schools stand ready to support developing UK and Ireland Dental workforce, and hopefully the increases in dental school numbers proposed by the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will come to fruition. Similarly, we often hear about utilising skill mix of all registrants, but with a number of Dental Therapy courses shutting due to funding constraints, the workforce of the future will be limited further unless the funding gap is addressed. Oral Health care fits perfectly in the NHS 10 year plan with a focus on Prevention, Community , and use of technology in improving access. Funding increased Therapy and Dental student numbers is essential to deliver on this plan, in line with governmental aspirations.”