NHS dentistry and oral health update

In the February NHS update Jason Wong, Chief Dental Officer for England reports that 2025 began with a productive start for the OCDO with the success of their first CDO Scientific Conference held at Birmingham Dental School. This event brought together key stakeholders from across the profession to discuss the implementation of evidence-based strategies in care delivery. He adds " We were fortunate to be joined by dental leaders in periodontal disease, caries management, workforce and dental policy, sharing their insights on how we may transform data into policy, which can be operationalised to deliver evidence-based treatments for patients.

The start of the year also saw two notable members of our profession being recognised for their talent and efforts. Pam Swain, Chief Executive of the British Association of Dental Nurses, and Pepe Shirlaw, honorary consultant for the OCDO, LDN Chair for London and oral medicine consultant, were awarded MBEs. These awards are thoroughly well deserved, and I would like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate both Pam and Pepe.

14-15 March 2025 sees the return of the BDIA Showcase where I am proud to host the CDO zone once again. Whilst this is a chance for the CDO team to present our work and host dental subject matter experts, I am also keen for it to be an opportunity where the profession can feed back to us. If you are planning on attending, please do stop by and have a chat. I am pleased to see the Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock has also confirmed his attendance, as has Professor Brian Cox.

One update that will be presented at the Showcase will be the avoidance of doubt policy on self-funded dental treatment requiring NHS intervention. This policy paper was published just before the Christmas break and offers guidance to clinicians managing patients that are experiencing complications from self-funded treatment.

Finally, on the horizon we have 2 special focus bulletins, the first providing an update on patient safety and another exploring wellbeing.

The update also includes information on NHS operational planning and contracting guidance, Scientific Conference and more.

Read the full NHS dentistry and oral health update