Stephen will reflect on the current issues in medical law as they relate to dentistry and dental practice. He will discuss recent court cases and the proposed changes envisaged for the way dental professionals are regulated. He will also discuss the updated guidance issued by the GDC in relation to Scope of Practice, indemnity arrangements and the requirements to report yourself to the GDC.

Dr Stephen Henderson, BDS LLM FFCGDent

Stephen is a Specialist in Oral Surgery who qualified in London in 1984. After five years in full time hospital practice, he went into general dental practice in Oxford. He continued to work part-time in the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Department of the John Radcliffe Hospital until 2000, when he joined Dental Protection (DP). He converted his practice to a largely private referral oral surgery practice when he became a full time dento-legal adviser at DP in 2007. He continued to work as a visiting specialist until March 2020.

In December 2017 he left DP and joined MDDUS. In his medico-legal career Stephen’s expertise has been complex GDC cases as his medical law degree included a dissertation on Regulatory Law in UK. He has experience of international regulators and the management of dental and maxillofacial claims in a number of different jurisdictions. Stephen left his role at MDDUS at the end of August 2023

Educational aims and objectives

The aim of the session is to provide an update on the legal issues that impact upon dental registrants, looking at recent case law and the latest guidance from the GDC.

Learning outcomes

• Be able to describe the recent legal cases that have impacted dental professionals
• Be able to explain the GDC Scope of Practice Guidance as it relates to their practice
• Appreciate the proposed changes to professional regulation and the timetable for those changes
• Understand how an indemnity provider supports a dental professional faced with a Fitness to Practise investigation

GDC development outcomes

A, B, D