Professionalism & Professional Standards for Dentists & Dental Care Professionals
A 2.5-hour CPD course built around the GDC's standing conduct standards, communication, complaints, delegation and working with the dental team, competence and CPD, and raising concerns. The everyday discipline side of dental professionalism, not the ethical reasoning side.
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Course Content
Is this you?
We wrote this for three kinds of dental professional. Most people reading this are at least one of them.
You supervise, delegate to, or lead other members of the dental team.
Knowing exactly where a hygienist's or nurse's scope of practice ends, delegating a task properly, and remembering that accountability doesn't transfer away with it, these are everyday judgement calls, not abstract theory.
A complaint or a difficult team situation has tested you recently.
Whether it's responding to a patient complaint without becoming defensive, or raising a concern about a colleague in a small, close-knit practice, this is the everyday discipline side of professionalism, not the ethical reasoning side.
You want CPD built around real dental team structure, not generic professionalism.
Dentistry is practised by a genuinely multi-disciplinary team, dentists, nurses, hygienists, therapists, technicians, each with a distinct, GDC-defined scope. This course is built around that real structure.
The GDC sets nine standards. This course covers the standing conduct ones.
Professionalism and our Ethics course are designed as a pair, covering the GDC's nine standards fully between them without repeating each other. Here's where this course sits.
Communicate Effectively
Clarity, cost, and keeping patients informed throughout care.
This courseComplaints & Colleagues
Handling complaints properly, delegation, and the dental team.
This courseCompetence & Raising Concerns
CPD, capability, and a culture where concerns can be raised safely.
This courseConsent & Confidentiality
The ethical reasoning side, patients' interests, consent, confidentiality.
Ethics courseWhat it covers, and why
Course description
A 2.5-hour CPD on the standing conduct side of the GDC's Standards for the Dental Team, built for GDC-registered dentists and dental care professionals. It covers communicating clearly with patients, handling complaints without becoming defensive, delegation and accountability across a multi-disciplinary team, maintaining competence and CPD, and raising concerns, including confidentiality in shared spaces and online conduct.
Why it's relevant
Dentistry is practised by a genuinely multi-disciplinary team, and unlike many healthcare roles, each dental care professional's scope of practice is explicitly, individually defined by the GDC. This course is built around that real structure, and around genuinely dental-specific territory: small, close-knit practice teams, a real delegation hierarchy, and the specific conduct risk of practices actively using social media for patient acquisition.
How it improves your practice
You'll finish able to work confidently within your own scope of practice while recognising the boundaries of others', communicate clearly and treat a complaint as information rather than an attack, delegate and refer appropriately while understanding that accountability doesn't transfer away with the task, raise a concern properly even in a small practice team, and meet the everyday conduct standard, including online.
What it covers
The course runs across five modules:
- Competence and safe practice, scope of practice across the dental team, CPD, and working within your capabilities
- Communication and complaints, clear patient communication and handling complaints without defensiveness
- Working with the dental team, delegation, accountability, and referring appropriately
- Raising concerns and personal conduct, including confidentiality in shared spaces and online conduct
- Applying every standard together, with two full worked cases
Who it's for
Any dentist or dental care professional registered with the GDC, at any career stage, dentists, dental nurses, hygienists, therapists, technicians, and orthodontic therapists, in NHS or private practice. Especially relevant if you supervise a team or manage patient complaints directly. Part of the wider CrownEthics library of CPD courses for UK healthcare professionals.
Related courses
This course stands on its own. These pair naturally if your situation calls for it:
- You want the ethical reasoning side too — add Ethics & Ethical Standards for Dentists & Dental Care Professionals. Together these cover the GDC's nine standards fully.
- You want to understand the wider fitness to practise process — add Fitness to Practise: What You Need to Know. Relevant across every UK regulator, not GDC-specific.
Every course above is standalone and priced individually.
Everything included
19 lessons across 5 modules, self-paced, around 2.5 hours
Four short knowledge checks, plus a final 15-question assessment (80% to pass, unlimited retakes)
Downloadable certificate of completion, permanent access
Reviewed by qualified professionals for accuracy
No expiry, revisit any time
Questions about this course
Does this course count as CPD for GDC revalidation?
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Is this course based on the GDC's actual standards?
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How is this different from the Ethics course?
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Does the course cover delegating to other dental care professionals specifically?
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Will this help if a concern has already been raised about me?
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Does the course cover raising a concern about a colleague?
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How long does the course take, and is it self-paced?
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Is there an assessment, and what happens if I don't pass?
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Who reviewed this course for accuracy?
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Can my practice enrol multiple dentists or team members at once?
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Still have a question? Email us and we'll get back to you.
