Michael Watson

Michael Watson

Author at Dentistry Online

Michael Watson qualified 50 years ago and started his career in the Royal Army Dental Corps. Retiring in 1979 he set up a general dental practice in Manningtree. In the 80s he became secretary of the GDPA and was the first editor of its journal the General Dental Practitioner. Moving to the BDA in 1991 he spent the rest if his career as a political adviser and editing BDA news. Since retiring he has continued writing and is a regular contributor to dentistry.co.uk and Dentistry magazine along with being the news correspondent for both. Michael now spends more time at a time-share on Gran Canaria and reducing the kid’s inheritance on cruise ships.
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Dentists’ earnings drop

Michael Watson discusses the latest figures showing how dentists’ earnings have dropped. The headline figures on dental earnings (for 2013/14) released last week were that net incomes for practice owners in England and Wales had fallen by 21% in real terms since 2008 – from £145,800 to £115,200 – with associates experiencing a 19.6% drop,…

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The GDC should stop acting as a complaints service

Someone in authority should tell the GDC to stick to its job, says Michael Watson. Last week this site published an excellent article by Jeff Sherer, where he said that ‘the GDC should only investigate the initial complaint and not sift through clinical records to find something to stick’. I couldn’t agree more, but the…

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The antibiotics dilemma

Michael Watson discusses the growing concern of antimicrobial resistance, and the growing pressure on dentists to prescribe antibiotics. The health story that seems to have engaged the media last week was headlined in one paper as: ‘Soft touch doctors should be disciplined for over-prescribing antibiotics’. GPs say they feel pressurised to write 10 million prescriptions of antibiotics…

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Stopping the GDC

Healthcare regulators, including the GDC, need a radical overhaul of how they operate, Michael Watson believes. Last week the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), which oversees the health regulatory authorities, including the General Dental Council (GDC), published a critical report of how professional regulation is carried out in this country. It said: ‘If regulation was going…

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What’s wrong with UDAs?

NHS England needs to tell dentists exactly what it wants for its UDAs, Michael Watson believes. What’s wrong with UDAs (units of dental activity)? Don’t all shout at once, because this week I am looking at it from the point of view of the commissioner, NHS England, rather than the providers, dentists. Outsourcing My train…

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Children’s teeth in the media

Michael Watson discusses the way children’s teeth have been portrayed recently in the media. Last week dentistry hit the headlines starting with the Sunday Times headline: ‘Rotten teeth in toddlers at crisis level.’ The crisis is well known to dental teams, namely that almost 26,000 general anaesthetics are given to five-nine-year-old children for dental extractions,…

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‘Trust dentists and let them get on and do their jobs’

Michael Watson reports from the Westminster Health Forum in his latest blog. Once a year I am sent an invitation to the Westminster Health Forum, which runs a seminar on dentistry. The forum is a place where policymakers in Parliament, Whitehall and government agencies can listen to key people within the dental world and discuss…

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What do dentists do?

Michael Watson highlights how dentists’ training has changed over the years and how it may need to change in the future. What do dentists do? That wasn’t the title of last week’s BDA anniversary lecture by Professor Jimmy Steele, but it was a theme that ran throughout. Like every good lecturer it was not only…

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GDC receives poor report from PSA

The PSA has concerns over the performance of the GDC in its annual report on the regulators it oversees. The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) sets 24 Standards of Good Regulation and found that all its regulators performed at least ‘adequately’ against ‘most’ of these standards. But it has concerns that some of its regulators (including…

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NHS appointments ‘frustratingly difficult’ to get according to Which?

Michael Watson responds to Which? claims that NHS dentists are not offering NHS appointments. Its undercover researchers called 500 dental surgeries advertising on the Government’s official website, NHS Choices, as accepting new NHS patients to see if they could book an appointment. They found that three in 10 (31%) practices said ‘no’ because they didn’t have availability. Of…

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A trip down memory lane

Last week I paid a visit to the town where I was born and brought up, Caterham in Surrey. It was not just a nostalgic trip, but to hear tribute paid to the founder of modern dentistry, Sir John Tomes, who is buried there. It is 200 years since his birth and the ceremony marked…

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The Queen’s Speech

It was said of King Charles II that he ‘never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one’. Too true the King replied: ‘For my words are my own, and my actions are my ministers’.’ I thought of that as I watched the state opening of parliament, but now, 350 years later, the…

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Pointless treatments

‘Patients (are) sometimes being offered treatments that have only minor benefit.’ We hear that doctors have been told to stop doing pointless treatments and tell patients that doing nothing can often be the best approach. Patients often expect their GPs to give them a prescription or refer them for an operation, rather than being told…


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