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Qualifications

carole

carole

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What do these qualification letters stand for please, and how qualified is the person.

1 B.D.S.

2 MJDF

3 RCS (ENG)

If someone has qualified 4 years ago, how competent are they.

Thank you.

I have now found out that MJDF means Membership of the Joint dental faculty, and I have read something about it, and I am none the wiser, how qualified does this make someone, and is it a lesser qualification, and would someone with this be more or less qualified than someone that has just finished their training.
Would someone with these qualifications be welcomed to work in an established private practice, to work on private patients. I need it explained in really dummy laymans terms please.
 
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B.D.S. = Many universities award BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) degrees, including The University of Birmingham, The University of Liverpool, The University of Manchester, The University of Glasgow, King's College London, the University of Cardiff and Queen's University Belfast.



RCS (ENG) = Royal College of Surgeons (England)

I would assume that being a Member of the Joint Dental Faculty, would suggest that someone is quite well qualified. Technically, as long as you can keep your grades/marks up to a passing level, and pass the final exams, you can be a dentist. But I doubt that all dentists are asked to become Members of the Joint Dental Faculty.

Same with being a member of the RCS. Assuming that is anything like board certification in the US, the fact that a person may be a dentist doesn't mean they are a dental surgeon. Or a good one. But professional organizations such as this don't invite lesser qualified people to join.
 
I may be wrong with some of this info, but this is as much as I know - I'm sure some of the others will be able to chip in too :).


What do these qualification letters stand for please, and how qualified is the person.

1 B.D.S.

BDS stands for Bachelor of Dental Surgery and is the degree that all dentists who have trained in the UK have to pass in order to qualify (and practise) as dentists. Different countries have different training requirements and qualifications, but in the UK, I think the training is five years at dental school (university).

Depending on which university the dentist went to, they may have the letters BChD instead of BDS (I know that Leeds uses these letters). BChD is the Latin abbreviation of Baccalaureus Chirurgiae Dentium (which is just a posh way of saying Bachelor of Dental Surgery).

2 MJDF

3 RCS (ENG)

These are qualifications which are gained after someone has qualified as a dentist, meaning that they have undertaken extra training. Dentistry is considered to be a specialism within surgery, hence the title 'Dental Surgeon' (the more formal version of the job title 'Dentist') and also the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons. Hospital surgeons (for example cardiac or orthopaedic surgeons etc) also undertake similar diploma courses as part of the Royal College of Surgeons, after they qualify as doctors because it enables them to further develop their career in their chosen specialism.

The MJDF [now MFDS - admin edit 2021] appears to be a relatively new qualification which combines a couple of previous similar qualifications.




If someone has qualified 4 years ago, how competent are they.

I think this is perhaps one of those how long is a piece of string questions! If someone qualified 4 years ago, then that means they have 4 years practical experience in addition to their university training. They have to have met a certain level of competency and possess a certain level of knowledge in order to qualify in the first place. In other words, they must know what they're doing to a certain extent, otherwise they wouldn't have passed their exams!

I would imagine that dentistry is much like a lot of other careers in that the real learning takes place once you qualify and start to gain experience in the real world. Having spent a few years in the past as a patient at an NHS practice where I saw several dentists (because they never stayed more than a couple of years), I've seen quite a few dentists with varying levels of experience, from newly qualified to around 5 years experience.

In terms of competency (from a patient's gut feeling/perspective about whether or not the dentist knows what they're doing), I would say that in the first couple of years post qualification, they're still quite 'nervous' about getting things right and are not always that confident, because they're still getting used to being in the big wide world of dentistry (even though they probably did work placements during their training). After 2 or 3 years, they seem to settle down a bit and develop a bit more confidence in what they're doing (either that or they develop the ability to give off an air of confidence even when they're not :p), whilst still being keen to continue their learning (which is why they often go on to do further training).

I suppose it depends what you mean by competency. Unless they're naturally a good 'people person', interpersonal skills don't always seem to be as honed as their technical skills until they've had a few years experience (I'm speaking from experience here, having encountered the mumbling and not very talkative 'newly qualified dentist' in the past!), but at 3 or 4 years, these things should be starting to come together.

Would someone with these qualifications be welcomed to work in an established private practice, to work on private patients. I need it explained in really dummy laymans terms please.

All dentists have to be qualified and registered with the General Dental Council to work as a dentist in the UK, but I would think that the more qualified and experienced someone is, then that would make them more attractive as a candidate when applying for jobs either in private practice or the NHS... Pretty much the same as in many other occupations.
 
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I think this is perhaps one of those how long is a piece of string questions! If someone qualified 4 years ago, then that means they have 4 years practical experience in addition to their university training. They have to have met a certain level of competency and possess a certain level of knowledge in order to qualify in the first place. In other words, they must know what they're doing to a certain extent, otherwise they wouldn't have passed their exams!

I would imagine that dentistry is much like a lot of other careers in that the real learning takes place once you qualify and start to gain experience in the real world. Having spent a few years in the past as a patient at an NHS practice where I saw several dentists (because they never stayed more than a couple of years), I've seen quite a few dentists with varying levels of experience, from newly qualified to around 5 years experience.

In terms of competency (from a patient's gut feeling/perspective about whether or not the dentist knows what they're doing), I would say that in the first couple of years post qualification, they're still quite 'nervous' about getting things right and are not always that confident, because they're still getting used to being in the big wide world of dentistry (even though they probably did work placements during their training). After 2 or 3 years, they seem to settle down a bit and develop a bit more confidence in what they're doing (either that or they develop the ability to give off an air of confidence even when they're not :p), whilst still being keen to continue their learning (which is why they often go on to do further training).

I suppose it depends what you mean by competency. Unless they're naturally a good 'people person', interpersonal skills don't always seem to be as honed as their technical skills until they've had a few years experience (I'm speaking from experience here, having encountered the mumbling and not very talkative 'newly qualified dentist' in the past!), but at 3 or 4 years, these things should be starting to come together.

While I do not at all disagree with anything Vicki has said here, just to play devil's advocate:

I have found that, in some cases, it's actually better to have a medical professional (doctor, dentist, whatever) that hasn't been in practice "forever." Both medicine and dentistry are still developing new and better techniques and methods (and probably always will). When you have a professional that has only been out of school a few years, they sometimes are more "up to date" on those new advances.

Whereas, while you may feel more comfortable with the 75-year old man who delivered your children and is still practicing medicine, he may have gotten a bit complacent over the years and may not be as conversant with recent developments in the field.

Which is why I agree with Vicki's "I think this is perhaps one of those how long is a piece of string" assessment, and think the answer very much depends on the specific doctors/dentists in question.


In your case, Carole, I think that given the level of trust you currently have in that practice, and particularly the level of trust you had with Ben, if this new dentist passed muster to replace Ben (and Ben didn't mention any reluctance to pass you on to him), it's probably a reasonable bet that he's quite competent.

That, plus of course, the fact that the new dentist has specifically said that he's "interested in treating nervous patients."
 
Thank you Jaylah and Vicki, the new dentist will be treating private and NHS, I have seen him they now have him on the website for everyone to see. I didn't ask Ben about him because I didn't think he would say if he didn't rate him anyway. Ben had been qualified from Leeds, for 6 years and had gained extra qualifications, this one has been qualified from Sheffield for 4 years and has the qualifications mentioned above. I did find something on the internet myself about these but just glazed over reading it.
I think I am really asking something that can not be answered on here, I really want to be comfortable with him and trust him, and I am not going to get the answer until I see him. I did want to know how qualified he was if it was above what was needed thought and I think probably he is.
He is very interested in keeping children calm and relaxed with being treated, so that may be a good sign as well.

THANKS :)
 
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