 Dr David Felix provides the latest news on the activities of the Faculty of Dental Surgery.
The past few months have seen the development of our collaborative activities both in the UK and around the world. At home, the e-Den project is a major e-learning initiative for the dental community while overseas we have been strengthening links with partners in Egypt, Singapore, the USA and Australia.
e-Den
The e-Den project is the first major collaborative initiative involving the Faculties of Dental Surgery of the Royal Surgical Colleges in the UK, the Faculty of General Dental Practice and the Department of Health e-learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) and provides national, quality assured online training content. e-Den is available nationwide and is free of charge to all members of the dental team operating within an NHS contract. It is a valuable tool for supporting postgraduate training for dentistry and promotes a consistent standard of knowledge, skills and expertise.
Approximately 100 e-learning sessions across six modules are now live on the system and the project continues to go from strength to strength. Each session has been written by a subject specialist and is typically 20 minutes long. I am sure that this resource will be of interest to all members of the dental team in whatever sphere of practice they operate. For more information about how to access the modules, see page 6 or visit the College website: www.rcsed.ac.uk.
Egypt examinations
In October, I visited Cairo to participate in the Membership in Oral Surgery examination. This examination is currently hosted by the Egyptian Armed Forces who continue to provide excellent facilities and resources to support the efficient organisation and delivery of the examination. During my visit, I met with a number of key individuals from the Egyptian Armed Forces who expressed a willingness to explore further areas of co-operation and I hope to take this forward over the next few months. During my visit, it was also my great pleasure to announce the award of Fellowship in Dental Surgery without examination to two serving officers in the Egyptian Army – Yasser Nabil and Mohamed Refaat.
Collaboration in Singapore
In November, I had a very fruitful visit to Singapore to attend the inaugural annual scientific meeting of the College of Dental Surgeons, Singapore, which comes under the umbrella of the Academy of Medicine. At the start of the meeting I presented the College President, Yeo Jin Fei, with a specially commissioned piece of art glass to mark this auspicious occasion. During my visit I had useful discussions with Yeo Jin Fei exploring areas for future co-operation and collaboration.
Joint Meeting with American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Over the last few years the Faculty has developed initiatives in North America linked to oral medicine and special care dentistry. More recently, I held discussions with colleagues from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the College plans to host a joint meeting in Edinburgh in September 2011. Further details will appear on the College website in due course.
Australian links
Currently, the Faculty holds a conjoint examination with the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons whereby successful candidates are awarded the MOrth RCSEd and MRACDS (Orthodontics). This has proved to be a highly successful initiative and has been beneficial to both colleges. The President of RACDS is keen to develop a reciprocal conjoint arrangement whereby candidates sitting MOrth RCSEd in the UK could also be awarded MRACDS (Orthodontics). In addition, we are keen to extend this initiative to include other specialty membership examinations.
Dr David H Felix, Dean, Faculty of Dental Surgery
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