The GDC and Professional Conduct course for Dental Practice

This session will describe the General Dental Council (GDC) and the guidance document Standards for the Dental Team. The concepts of 'professional conduct', 'fitness to practise', 'misconduct' and 'impairment' will be explained.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• describe the legal basis for the General Dental Council (GDC) and list the roles of the GDC in dentistry
• describe the ethical guidance published by the GDC and demonstrate with examples, its relevance to clinical practice
• explain the concept of professional conduct
• explain the concept of fitness to practise and impairment
• list the steps in a fitness to practise enquiry

The GDC can act on complaints from patients or information received from other organisations (for example, the police or the NHS) that raise questions as to whether a registered dental professional should be practising.