Introduction

During the course of their practicing lives, it is likely that members of the Dental team in the UK will see a significant number of children and adults with special care requirements, so it is important that they have the skills and competencies to provide care for this diverse group of patients. Graduates’ confidence and willingness to provide care for those with special care requirements is closely correlated to the quality and content of their undergraduate education in Special Care Dentistry (Allison et al 2001, Chavez et al 2011). However there is evidence that the clinical training and education of undergraduates has not provided them with the necessary skills to provide care for people with special needs (Casamassimo et al 2004, Chavez et al 2011).
The new UK GDC undergraduate curriculum ‘Preparing for practice’ (GDC-UK, 2011) places the assessment and care of people with special needs as a core learning outcome for the dental team (Outcome 1.1: GDC 2012) . It is important that this opportunity to introduce and to embed the skills and competencies associated with treating patients with special needs in undergraduate curricula is grasped.
In response to a need for a consensus around undergraduate teaching in Special Care Dentistry, the International Association for Disability and Oral Health (iADH) recently published an evidence based curriculum guidance document which specifies the core learning outcomes in the undergraduate curriculum in Special Care Dentistry (Dougall et al 2013a). The learning outcomes have been produced through a consensus process involving experts in SCD from 32 countries including representatives from UK Dental schools (Dougall et al 2013b). The document outlines the minimum requirements for undergraduate teaching in Special Care Dentistry and also contains many transferable skills, which can be adapted to satisfy learning outcomes across other areas of the undergraduate curriculum (Dougall et al 2013b).
In order to facilitate the embedding of teaching in Special Care Dentistry in UK undergraduate curricula, the teachers group of the BSDH have adapted and mapped the iADH core curriculum to the required learning outcomes for new registrants as specified in the UK GDC 2012 undergraduate curriculum. It is hoped that this UK adapted guidance document will help educators in SCD and Dental Deans to ensure that that the minimum requirements in teaching in SCD at undergraduate level are met, and in the long term improve access to dental care for marginalized groups and people living with disabilities.