The winners of the inaugural research competition for UK foundation dentists launched by Dental Protection in partnership with the MPS Foundation has produced noteworthy projects to improve periodontal care. The projects explored record keeping and periodontal care, ways of decreasing dental anxiety to improve periodontal treatment, aspects of non-surgical periodontal therapy and enriching the quality of smoking cessation advice to enhance patient safety and risk mitigation with better periodontal care.

The MPS Foundation – a global not-for-profit research initiative that aims to shape the future of patient safety – launched the research competition last year.

The judges of the inaugural research competition considered several key factors, including alignment of the competition entries to enhancement of patient safety and risk mitigation or reduction, and sought projects with a clear rationale, appropriate methodology and well communicated impact.

The national winning project by Liam Fletcher looked at ways to improve periodontal care and record keeping at a general dental practice, while Southwest regional winner Hong Yee Lee evaluated how periodontal treatment can be carried out successfully through respecting a patient’s boundaries and targeting the cause of dental anxiety. Midlands regional winner Adam Rahman looked at commonly omitted advice in a general dental practice and cases of periodontal disease in relation to patients who smoke, while Yorkshire and Humber regional winner Jay Patel examined non-surgical periodontal therapy for the management of intra-bony defects.

Prof Callum Youngson, Chair of the Dental Board at MPS, said: “I am delighted to announce the winners for our first Dental Protection research competition for UK foundation dentists. They have produced excellent work on the management of periodontal health which can be applied in general dental practice. They are to be highly commended for the quality of their work.

“Our aim in running these research competitions is to encourage early career dentists to develop expertise in the important areas of patient safety and risk reduction whilst building research capacity and capability for the future. These stand-out projects are a successful example of that.

“I am happy to announce that the next Dental Protection research competition for foundation dentists launched on 14 October 2024. Once again, we welcome project entries focused on either professionalism, communication, leadership and management, or clinical areas (or a combination) in relation to patient safety and risk mitigation. The national winner will win £1,000 and each regional winner will win £350.”

The competition portal UK Foundation Dentists Competition 2024 - The MPS Foundation Research Competitions Portal (smapply.io) is now open, and foundation dentists in the UK can register their interest and view the criteria for the competition categories. The closing date for competition submissions will be 31 July 2025.

The MPS Foundation is part of the Medical Protection Society (MPS) – the world’s leading protection organisation – which currently supports more than 300,000 doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals, and has over 130 years of global healthcare experience and expertise.

The winning projects

  1. Overall national winner: “Quality improvement project to improve periodontal care in general dental practice” by Liam Fletcher

    About the research:

    This quality improvement project aimed to improve periodontal care and record keeping at a general dental practice and ensure it was adherent to the document ‘Delivering phased-care for periodontitis patients under the units of dental activity (UDA) banding in England: Road map to prevention and stabilisation’. The initial audit identified 14 areas out of 28 domains that did not achieve the ideal standard. By using process mapping and peer review the situation improved. By the final round of peer reviews, 12 domains of the initial 14 domains were present in records reviewed.

  2. Southwest winner: “Periodontal treatment on the dentally anxious: the impact of dental anxiety on periodontal health and its association with periodontal treatment” by Hong Yee Lee

    About the research:

    This case study supports a previous systematic review that periodontal treatment can be a gateway to decreasing dental anxiety. Periodontal treatment often involves multiple visits and is associated with low pain levels during and post treatment. If done in a manner that respects the patient’s boundaries and targets the cause of dental anxiety, periodontal treatment can be carried out successfully, leading to a strong dentist-patient relationship and confidence in future dental treatments.

  3. Midlands winner: “Smoking and Periodontal Disease Audit 2024” by Adam Rahman

    About the research:

    Smoking is a major risk factor for periodontal disease. Brief smoking advice from a member of the dental team increases patients’ motivation to quit smoking and can double a patient’s success. This audit aimed to improve quality of smoking cessation advice, in line with the VBA from NCSCT and the DBOH toolkit (Very brief advice on smoking for dental patients). This audit highlighted aspects of the VBA flowchart commonly omitted in a general dental practice in relation to patients who smoke and periodontal disease how the standard of periodontal care could be improved.

  4. Yorkshire and Humber winner: “Non-surgical periodontal therapy for the management of intra-bony defects: a narrative review” by Jay Patel

About the research:

Proponents of minimally invasive non-surgical therapy (MINST) periodontal interventions expound protocols, devised from first-hand clinical experiences, which maximise preservation of soft tissue integrity. The key denominators of these modern concepts advocate use of a magnification system, and an ultrasonic device with ultra-thin or slimline tips and mini gracey-curettes. The effectiveness of the ‘MINST’ protocol without adjuncts, as the sole therapy of intra-bony defects during the second phase of non-surgical periodontal therapy is well supported by the literature. The ‘MINST’ protocol demonstrates favourable clinical outcomes with minimal treatment time and adverse incidents.

ENDS

For photographs of Liam Fletcher, Hong Yee Lee, Adam Rahman, and other media queries contact: E: [email protected]. T: +44 (0)7515 298791

About Dental Protection

Dental Protection is a registered trademark and a trading name of The Medical Protection Society Limited (“MPS”). MPS is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of more than 300,000 members around the world. Membership provides access to expert advice and support and can also provide, depending on the type of membership required, the right to request indemnity for any complaints or claims arising from professional practice.

Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.

Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We do this by promoting risk management through our workshops, E-learning, clinical risk assessments, publications, conferences, lectures and presentations.

MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

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