Sir, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in dental services including both undergraduate and postgraduate dental training. Newly qualified dentists who commenced dental foundation training in September 2019 would have only had seven months of clinical practice before the lockdown resulted in cessation of routine dentistry in the UK.1 There are likely to be outstanding competencies and the loss of clinical experience and mentoring will need to be identified and fulfilled through a personal development plan (PDP).

The enhanced continuing professional development (CPD) scheme was introduced by the General Dental Council (GDC) on 1 January 2018 for dentists.2 This involves completion of the prerequisite 100 hours of CPD per cycle but also in ensuring that this is tailored to meet individual PDPs to make sure maximum benefit is gained and to encourage reflective practice.

At present, PDPs are not a routine part of the undergraduate curricula3 and as such, newly qualified dentists will be faced with the new challenge of having to proactively plan their CPD to fulfil outstanding competencies from their current training course. This is also likely to be the case for dentists in dental core training, speciality training and those undertaking formal postgraduate qualifications.

GDC standards allow PDPs to be completed individually or in conjunction with peers including employers.2 Dentists in training should seek advice from their educational supervisors and postgraduate deaneries by identifying areas within their professional activities where further training is needed, identify suitable courses and ensure their objectives are achievable within a set timeframe. Whilst CPD cycles are five years, the need to complete certain key foundation skills to ensure adequate competence and baseline knowledge to facilitate progression through postgraduate training pathways will result in trainees having to meet such objectives sooner. This will likely need to be achieved in liaison with their next training scheme.

There are multitudes of factors to think about during this COVID-19 pandemic and the personal development plan may be easily and understandably missed, however, its importance should not be underestimated. Early planning will help trainees of all levels overcome the challenges of disruptions and mitigate adverse effects on their training progression.