Doctorgate

I have received an update this morning that the GDC is meeting in a week’s time to rule on the title of dentists and whether they should be called ‘Dr’. In a nutshell, the Council is voting on the proposal, being recommended by their Standards Committee to remove the title of Dr. for all Dentists in the UK. In the public opinion polls, commissioned by the GDC, results showed a high percentage of the public felt this was misleading and confusing with the medical profession. However the GDC’s own public consultation, which was 90% responded to by dental professionals, felt that it was appropriate to keep using the courtesy title as done for the last 16 years, as long as it was always qualified with the descriptor of “Dentist”. “Dental practitioner”,”Dental Surgeon” as per current rules. The final vote hasn’t happened yet, but according to some, it is clear from the way the GDC papers online are written and presented to Council (Item 6 Advertising) that they are being recommended to stop dentists in the UK using the Dr title unless medically qualified or holding a Ph.D. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter!