Recognition of
self-development

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Ian Corbett Diploma Examinations Lead, Faculty of Dental Surgery

Over the past two years you may have heard about an exciting new development within the College examinations portfolio. The Dental Faculty prides itself on the provision of quality-assured, fit-for-purpose assessment of the dental profession.

Historically, assessment has been for those pursuing specialist qualifications through formal training pathways as a requirement for recognition for one of the 13 GDC-listed dental specialities. However, the College supports and recognises all forms of experience in career progression, and it is with this philosophy in mind that we launch our new diploma-level examinations in 2024.

Many dentists develop an interest in one or more branches of dentistry, which they may wish to pursue through academic endeavour, attending meetings and conferences, or undertaking short training courses and university programmes. This professional commitment generally goes unrecognised, and the aim of the diploma examinations is to provide evidence and benchmarking of this self-development.

“The qualification may act as a first step in career progression
into a specialty” 

New assessments will be offered for each of the clinical dental specialties (endodontics, oral medicine, oral surgery, paediatric dentistry, periodontics and prosthodontics) with the
existing Diploma in Special Care Dentistry. The examinations are open access, available to any dentists with a primary dental qualification, both UK and international, and with no specific training requirements. 

They will suit dentists with the equivalent of two years’ experience of their specialty in whatever form this has been achieved. However, this is only a recommendation – our advice is to review the curriculum and decide if you are ready to undertake an assessment.

Two parts to success

The format of the examination is two parts: part 1 is a single best answer paper in which a short stem introduces a problem and you are given five answers to choose from. All answers may to some extent be correct, but one is superior, testing application of knowledge. There are 150 questions, to be completed over three hours, assessing the breadth of the curriculum. 

In part 2 there are eight clinical scenarios similar to those you would encounter in practice, and you are asked structured questions on the condition and its management.
Each scenario lasts 15 minutes with additional reading and preparation time. This part of the assessment gives you the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge gained from clinical exposure.

The qualification may simply be for self-reflection or act as a first step in career progression into a specialty. Successful candidates may also wish to use these qualifications as part of their portfolio of evidence towards service commissioning or for mediated entry applications to specialist listing.

Successful completion of a diploma examination allows you to use the relevant post-nominals (DipDentSed RCSEd, DipPerio RCSEd, DipOralSurg RCSEd, DipPros RCSEd, DipEndo RCSEd, Dip PaedDent RCSEd or DipOralMed RCSEd) and bestows the benefits of an Associate Member of the College.

See the College website, app and social media posts for information.