A crucial part of being a dental professional is to identify your learning and development needs in a personal development plan. Your CPD should be the most appropriate needed to achieve these aims, and your plan should specify the timeframes involved.

When chosen well, CPD can boost your confidence, strengthen your professional credibility and help you tackle and resolve issues and dilemmas.

How much CPD do dental professionals need?

The minimum number of verifiable CPD hours across your five-year cycle depends on your GDC registration.

• Dentists need a minimum of 100 hours.
• Dental therapists, dental hygienists, orthodontic therapists and clinical dental technicians need a minimum of 75 hours.
• Dental nurses and dental technicians need a minimum of 50 hours.

However, in March, the GDC updated its CPD scheme for registrants to make sure it is more accessible and flexible for dental professionals, especially when undertaking, recording and submitting CPD.

Here are some of the key areas dental professionals should be particularly aware of.

Grace period

Firstly, the GDC is proactively increasing awareness of the 56-day grace period for registrants who have - for good reasons - been unable to complete all CPD requirements before the end of their five-year cycle.

We welcome this, as we have had a number of members who did not meet the CPD requirement and didn't know they were able to request a grace period. Awareness of the grace period may have prevented these members from ending up in difficulties with the GDC.

However, this grace period can only be requested in the last six months of the five-year cycle - and crucially, the GDC is unable to agree to it after the cycle has ended.

Changes to certification information

Next, there is a reduction in the information required on CPD certificates. You no longer have to provide a registration number or a signature from the CPD provider to confirm that the information provided is full and accurate. However, the GDC does require a statement that the information is full and correct, either on the certificate or in an email from the CPD provider.

Signatures from a CPD provider are no longer required on a participant's mapping document, and again, an email can be used as confirmation, which can save time and admin for individuals.

Regular CPD review

You should regularly review your CPD throughout its five-year cycle to make sure you're meeting all the GDC's requirements, which will hopefully help avoid any issues when the cycle ends.

As a reminder, you need to have completed the required number of verifiable hours across the five-year cycle. But you also have to complete 10 hours of verifiable CPD across each two-year period.

This rule applies within each five-year cycle, but also between cycles. This means that 10 hours of CPD must be completed across the last year of one cycle and the first year of the next. This is a point that in our experience registrants often miss, with what can be very serious consequences.

In 2024, the GDC published guidance confirming that the registrar has a discretion not to erase a registrant for not completing their CPD requirements, but this discretion will only be exercised in exceptional circumstances.

As such, you should take steps to check that your CPD requirements are met. If you think you'll find this difficult, ask the GDC to agree to a grace period before the end of your five-year cycle.

CPD topics

The GDC's website also contains guidance on recommended CPD topics for the different groups of registrants, which includes legal and ethical issues.

It's important know which of the recommended topics are relevant to you, and that they're incorporated into your personal development plan.

This article first appeared on Dentistry.co.uk and has been edited for publication.