A patient has complained

To the practice or to the GDC. How the practice responds is itself governed by principle 5, and a mishandled complaint frequently becomes the larger problem.

A GDC investigation is open

Section 6 covers the actions the GDC can take and the remediation steps that answer a concern before it escalates.

The concern involves consent or cost

What was explained, what was agreed, what the patient understood they were paying for, and whether any of it was written down.

You are a dental nurse, hygienist or therapist

All seven registered titles are covered. The nine principles apply to the whole team, and so does the fitness to practise process.

You are applying for restoration

You are erased or off the register and working towards returning. What you did in the meantime is the heart of the application, and you do not need to be registered to take this.

You are building your CPD

Two verifiable hours you can complete and log today, with a certificate recording the title, the hours and the date.

Consent, options and cost

Treatment the patient says they did not agree to, options not offered, or a bill larger than the one they expected.

NHS and private confusion

A patient who believed they were being treated on the NHS, or who did not understand that a private alternative was a choice rather than a requirement.

Complaints handling

Principle 5. Delay, defensiveness, or a response that argued rather than listened — a breach in its own right, whatever the original issue.

Records

Notes and treatment plans too thin to show what was discussed, agreed or charged for — and the difficulty of answering a consent complaint without them.

Candour after something went wrong

An extraction that was not what the patient expected, a restoration that failed, or an error — and whether they were told promptly and openly.

Conduct and boundaries

Principle 9 covers personal behaviour that affects confidence in the profession, including conduct towards colleagues in a small practice team.

Overview of healthcare ethics

Three lessons: what healthcare ethics is, why it matters in the dental profession specifically, and the GDC’s role in setting and enforcing standards.

The core ethical principles

Four lessons: autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence together, justice, and confidentiality.

Integrity, candour and records

Three lessons: maintaining honesty and integrity, the duty of candour, and documentation and record-keeping — including the written treatment plan.

Patient-centred care and shared decisions

Two lessons: informed consent and patient communication — where cost, options and the difference between NHS and private treatment all have to be made clear.

Professional boundaries and conduct

Two lessons: maintaining appropriate boundaries, and GDC guidance on where they sit, including conduct with colleagues in a small practice team.

Breaches of ethical standards

Four lessons and the part that answers a live concern: the common breaches in dental practice, their consequences, the actions the GDC can take, and the steps to take to remediate.

Conclusion and assessment

Conclusion and takeaways, followed by a post-course assessment. Your certificate is issued on completion.

Valid consent

Principle 3. In dentistry it carries a requirement most of healthcare does not, because the patient is usually paying: they must understand the options and what each costs, in writing, before treatment starts. The GDC describes it as a process rather than a one-off event, and part of an ongoing communication between the patient and all members of the dental team involved in their care.

Written treatment plan and estimate

The record that a cost discussion happened. Without it, a later dispute about what was agreed comes down to two recollections, and the patient’s is the one being asked about.

Complaints procedure

Principle 5 requires every practice to have one that is clear and effective. It makes the handling of a complaint a professional standard in its own right, judged separately from whatever the complaint was about.

The dental team

All seven titles the GDC registers, not just dentists. The nine principles apply to the whole registered team without variation, and so does the fitness to practise process. Consent is explicitly a shared duty: the GDC describes it as part of an ongoing communication between the patient and all members of the dental team involved in their care.

Duty of candour

Telling a patient promptly when something has gone wrong, apologising, and explaining what happened and what will be done about it. Whether it was done, and how quickly, is often more decisive than the original problem.

Insight

Understanding what went wrong, why, and the effect it had on the patient and on confidence in the profession — together with what has changed as a result. It is what a response is read for, and it is shown rather than claimed.

Options, and what each one costs

A patient cannot weigh a treatment they cannot price. Presenting only the option you recommend, or discussing cost after the decision has been taken, undermines the consent rather than completing it.

NHS and private, told apart clearly

Where both are available, the patient should understand which is being offered and why. Ambiguity here is one of the most frequent sources of dental complaints, and it is entirely avoidable.

In writing, before treatment starts

A written treatment plan and estimate is the record that a cost discussion happened. Without it, a later dispute about what was agreed comes down to two recollections.

Revisited when the plan changes

If the treatment or the price changes mid-course, that is a new conversation and a new record — not an assumption that the original agreement stretches to cover it. The GDC puts it plainly: giving and obtaining consent is a process, not a one-off event.

Put patients’ interests first

Communicate effectively with patients

Obtain valid consent

The principle this page is built on, because in dentistry it includes the cost. Its guidance asks for the options with a breakdown and explanation of costs, and treats consent as an ongoing process shared across the dental team.

Maintain and protect patients’ information

Have a clear and effective complaints procedure

Unusual among the regulators, and the reason how you respond to a complaint is a standard in itself.

Work with colleagues in a way that is in patients’ best interests

Maintain, develop and work within your professional knowledge and skills

Raise concerns if patients are at risk

Make sure your personal behaviour maintains patients’ confidence in you and the dental profession

Covers conduct outside the surgery, and conduct towards colleagues in a small practice team.

Dentists

Usually the treating clinician and often the practice owner, so a concern can engage clinical judgement, consent and the practice’s complaints handling at the same time.

Dental nurses

The largest registered group by some distance, and the most likely to assume a course titled for dentists is not for them. It is: the same nine principles, the same process, and dental nurses do appear before the GDC in their own right.

Dental hygienists

Often working with a degree of independence, including under direct access, which puts consent and scope of practice squarely on you rather than on a referring dentist.

Dental therapists

A broader treatment scope than hygienists and the same consent obligations, including the cost conversation where treatment is private.

Dental technicians

Rarely meeting the patient, which does not remove the standards — honesty about materials and provenance, record-keeping, and raising concerns about a prescription that looks wrong.

Clinical dental technicians

Treating patients directly for dentures, so consent, cost and complaints handling apply to you exactly as they do to a dentist.

Orthodontic therapists

Working to a prescription and often over long courses of treatment, where consent is revisited as the plan develops rather than settled at the first appointment.

Students and trainees

Welcome, and it is more useful before you need it. Dental schools and training providers apply professionalism expectations that anticipate the nine principles.

Before anything else: do not amend the records

Not the clinical notes, not the treatment plan, not the estimate. Practice software logs every amendment with a timestamp and a user, and a note changed after a concern has been raised turns a consent question into an honesty one — which engages principle 9 as well. If something genuinely needs adding, take advice and add it openly as a new, dated entry.

Give options and costs in writing, every time

A written plan and estimate before treatment starts, covering what each option costs rather than only the one you recommend. It takes minutes, and it is the single change most directly aimed at how dental complaints actually arise.

Re-plan when the price or the treatment changes

A new conversation and a new record, not an assumption that the original agreement stretches. This is where a straightforward course of treatment most often turns into a complaint about a bill.

Fix the complaints procedure, and prove it ran

A written procedure, a named person, a timescale, and a file showing the next complaint was handled to it. Principle 5 makes this a standard in its own right, and it is the most readily evidenced thing on this page.

Apologise before you discuss money

A refund offered before an acknowledgement reads as an attempt to close the matter rather than to answer it. The order costs nothing and changes how the response is received.

Get somebody outside the practice to check

A peer from another practice reading a sample of your treatment plans against one question: can you tell what was offered, what it cost and what the patient agreed to? Repeat it a few months later. In a small team there is no independent reader by default.

The pair to this course: how you conducted yourself, and the Enhanced CPD development outcomes.

Consent as a continuous process, and the privacy around close-work treatment.

Where treatment is sold as well as provided — conflicts of interest and commercial pressure.

Being open when something goes wrong, and apologising properly — before money is discussed.

Records as evidence — where the treatment plan and estimate either appear or do not.

First steps, what not to do, and how to respond to the person who complained.

The element assessed in almost every case, and the one most often described as lacking.

How to write reflection that reads as understanding rather than regret — useful for your CPD record too.