Thursday, 22 October 2026

Good morning.

The UK is expanding the route for overseas-qualified dentists to join the register.

Then the first ORE Part 2 under the new contract produced a 27% pass rate.

Also this week: that 2.4% NHS pay headline needs some context, and researchers have tested something considerably cheaper than a new paediatric behaviour-management device.

A magic trick. Let’s get into it.

THE DRILL

The September ORE Part 2 results are out.

Only 27% of candidates passed.

The previous sitting in April? 56%.

September matters because it was the first Part 2 sitting delivered under the GDC’s new contract with UCL Consultants, which is designed to expand exam capacity substantially.

And the low overall result wasn't because everyone failed everything.

36% failed just one component.

Only 2% failed all four.

The individual pass rates were also interesting: 96% passed Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, but only 59% passed OSCE and 56% Medical Emergencies.

One sitting isn't a trend.

And a lower pass rate doesn't, by itself, tell us whether the problem sits with candidates, assessment design, preparation or something else.

But there is a wider workforce point.

Government plans to expand overseas registration depend not simply on offering more exam seats, but on candidates successfully moving through them and onto the register.

With Part 2 now costing £6,967, plenty of candidates will be watching the November sitting closely.

Not yet.

DHSC and NHS England have submitted their evidence for the 2027/28 pay round.

Their financial plans currently assume they can afford a 2.4% pay uplift without cutting into headline health commitments.

If the independent DDRB recommends more, government says the extra money would need to come from existing health budgets.

So 2.4% isn't the award.

It's the number government has currently budgeted around.

The BDA wants substantially more, arguing for a 6.83% overall uplift in dental contract values.

Now the DDRB gets to consider the evidence.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Researchers studied 30 children aged 5–7 who each needed pulpotomies on mandibular primary molars on both sides.

At one visit they used tell-show-do.

At the other, tell-show-do came with a magic trick.

What happened?

A) No meaningful difference

B) Anxiety fell, but pain didn't

C) Pain and anxiety measures were lower with the magic trick

Have a think.

Answer near the bottom.

REGULATORY RADAR

You have until midnight on 31 October.

The dentist ARF for 2027 is £698.

Choose the quarterly Direct Debit option and it becomes four payments of £174.50, with no additional charge.

The first comes out around 1 December.

Already paying by annual Direct Debit? You can switch through MyGDC before the deadline.

Not exactly the most exciting 30 seconds of your Thursday.

Potentially a useful one.

BREAK THE ICE

Try:

“Show me what you found. Then I’ll show you what I’m seeing, and we can compare the two.”

You don't have to agree with Dr Google.

You also don't have to start the conversation by dismissing them.

THE ANSWER

The children acted as their own controls, receiving tell-show-do alone at one appointment and tell-show-do plus a magic trick at the other.

Pain scores, observed behavioural distress and heart-rate measures were all significantly lower in the magic-trick condition around the injection and pulpotomy.

Before ordering a pack of cards for every surgery:

there were only 30 children, and the researchers detected a carryover effect for the pain score.

So the useful takeaway isn't that dentists should become magicians.

It's that well-timed distraction may genuinely change how a child experiences treatment.

Sometimes behaviour management is less complicated than the equipment catalogue suggests.

THE LAST RINSE

Things only dentists understand:

“Open as wide as you can.”

Patient opens.

“A little wider…”

Patient raises their eyebrows.

Apparently that was the extra opening.