Faculty of Dental Surgery unveils new diplomas recognising enhanced skills
Exams will assess and recognise dental practitioners who have gained enhanced expertise.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) has launched a new and innovative suite of examinations designed to formally assess and recognise dental practitioners who have gained enhanced skills and expertise in a defined area of dental practice.
While the pathway, assessment and recognition of dentists who have undertaken specialty training is long established, many dentists develop an interest in one or more branches of dentistry which they pursue through academic endeavour, attending meetings and conferences, or undertaking short training courses and university programmes.
This professional commitment generally goes unrecognised, and the aim of the Diploma examinations is to provide evidence and benchmarking of this self-development.
These diplomas provide an opportunity for dentists to test their learning and understanding in one or more areas of dental practice.
Professor Grant McIntyre
The level and curriculum of these new Diploma examinations is based on the skills required for providers of Level 2 Complexity of Care as defined by NHS England, or that of a dentist with a special interest.
The first Dental Diploma Examinations to go live in 2025 will be Dental Sedation, Paediatric Dentistry, and the Restorative single specialty examinations, namely Endodontics, Periodontics and Prosthodontics. Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine Diploma Examinations will follow.
Each examination will comprise single best answer and clinical case questions which will be fully digital. The RCSEd quality assurance standards mean that question writing, blueprinting, standard setting, examiner calibration and psychometrics will continue to be part of the process. These provide reassurance that the holder of one of the Dental Diplomas has reached a pivotal point in their career where their commitment has been recognised by one of the world’s most respected awarding bodies.
These Diplomas are not intended to replace full specialty training pathways and successful practitioners will not be able to call themselves specialists but can claim to have been tested in these specific areas to a high standard.
The qualification may be simply for self-reflection or may act as a first step in career progression into a chosen specialty. Successful candidates may also wish to use these qualifications as part of their portfolio of evidence towards Level 2 service commissioning, or as part of the portfolio for mediated entry applications to specialist listing as their career develops.
Successful completion of a Diploma examination allows successful candidates to use the post-nominals Dip RCSEd and bestows the benefits of being a Dental Associate of the College.
Professor Grant McIntyre, Dean of the Dental Faculty at the RCSEd, said: “With our long history of quality assured assessments for the whole dental profession, these new diplomas provide an opportunity for dentists, both from the UK and countries across the world, to test their learning and understanding in one or more areas of dental practice, and evidence their achievements to themselves and their patients.”
A webinar will be held on 28 November where dental practitioners considering the new diplomas can hear directly from a panel of experts, including Immediate Past-Dean of the FDS Professor Phil Taylor, and take part in a Q&A session. You can find out more information or sign up to take part here.