About

The SDCEP Dental Companion is primarily directed at dental professionals working in primary care dental practice, including the general dental service and public dental service.

It is also of relevance to the secondary care dental service, those involved in dental education and undergraduate trainees.

The Dental Companion may also be of relevance to other healthcare providers. 

The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) is an initiative of the National Dental Advisory Committee (NDAC) in partnership with NHS Education for Scotland (www.nes.scot.nhs.uk).

SDCEP provides user-friendly, evidence-based guidance on topics identified as priorities for oral health care.

SDCEP guidance supports improvements in patient care by bringing together, in a structured manner, the best available information that is relevant to the topic, and presenting this information in a form that can be interpreted easily and implemented.

SDCEP also contributes to the research and development of interventions to enhance the translation of guidance recommendations into practice through its participation in the TRiaDS (Translation Research in a Dental Setting) collaboration.

For each SDECP guidance topic, a group of healthcare professionals with a particular interest or experience in that area of oral health is convened to develop and write the guidance.

Recommendations are developed through considered judgements, made by the group, based on existing guidelines, the available evidence, clinical experience, expert opinion and patient and practitioner perspectives.

The impact of potential barriers identified during guidance development and through stakeholder involvement and external consultation are also considered when formulating the recommendations.

More information on the SDCEP Guidance Development Process can be found at www.sdcep.org.uk.