Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the means by which dental practitioners develop the professional and personal qualities required throughout their professional lives. It enables practitioners to maintain, improve and broaden their knowledge, expertise and competence.
Dental practitioners are required to meet the Dental Board of Australia’s (DBA’s) Registration standard: continuing professional development: https://www.dentalboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards.aspx (the standard) which has been in effect since 1 December 2015.
The standard applies to all dentists, dental specialists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists, except those who hold one of the following types of registration:
- non-practising registration
- limited registration in the public interest
- limited registration to sit an examination, or
- student registration.
What should we do?
Dental practitioners are required to complete a minimum of 60 hours of CPD activities over a three-year CPD cycle and should include.
- a minimum of 48 of the 60 hours (80 per cent) must be spent on clinically or scientifically based activities, and
- a maximum of 12 of the 60 hours (20 per cent) can be spent on non-scientific activities.
The DBA encourages all registered dental practitioners to engage in CPD activities each year, gradually accumulating a minimum of 60 hours over the three-year CPD cycle.
Each three-year CPD cycle covers three registration periods from 1 December to 30 November. The DBA publishes the CPD cycle dates on its website dentalboard.gov.au/Registration/Registration-Renewal.
Meeting this registration standard is a requirement of registration for all dental practitioners.
The current CPD cycle as of December 2024 is: 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2025.
At renewal of registration
When you apply to renew your registration, you are required to declare that you have complied with the CPD standard.
During the registration period
You should also be mindful that the declaration you make on re-registration each year includes confirmation that CPD requirements are being fulfilled. This is a binding declaration. Your compliance with the CPD standard may be audited.
You should maintain records of your CPD activity for a period of five years
You must produce a logbook (electronic or hard copy) of your CPD activities when requested to do so by the DBA via the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA).
What happens if I don’t meet this standard?
The National Law establishes possible consequences if you do not meet this standard, including that:
- the DBA can impose a condition or conditions on your registration or can refuse an application for registration or renewal of registration, if you do not meet a requirement in an approved registration standard for the profession (sections 82, 83 and 112 of the National Law)
- a failure to undertake the CPD required by this standard is not an offence but may be behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action may be taken by the DBA (section 128 of the National Law)
- registration standards, codes or guidelines may be used in disciplinary proceedings against you as evidence of what constitutes appropriate practice or conduct for dental practitioners (section 41 of the National Law).
DBA Guidelines on continuing professional development for dental practitioners
The DBA Guidelines: continuing professional development dentalboard.gov.au/documents/guidelines provide more information about how to meet this standard. You are expected to understand and apply the guidelines.
Dental Board of Australia approved programs of study
If you are already registered by the DBA and are undertaking either an approved program of study or an approved program to extend scope, the contact hours and non-contact hours undertaken as part of the program of study can be counted towards the CPD requirements. If there are sufficient hours and a variety of activities, this can make up the entire 60 hours of CPD requirement.
Hours spent studying in formal courses that award a qualification (but not one that is required for registration) that is of benefit to the practice of dentistry can be counted in full towards the clinical or scientific component of CPD hours if the course of study also meets the definition for clinically or scientifically-based CPD activities.
Other formal courses that award a qualification (but not one that is required for registration) that do not meet the definition for clinically or scientifically-based CPD activities, but are in line with the definition of non-scientific activities, can be counted toward the hours of non-scientific CPD.
Clinical supervision activities
If you undertake clinical supervision as part of an employment role, this cannot be counted towards the CPD requirements.
What are the requirements if I am returning to practice after an absence?
You must demonstrate 40 hours of CPD in your first registration period (1 December to 30 November each year) if you are returning to practice after an absence and:
- have not practised for more than two years (whether registered or not), or
- have held non-practising registration for more than two years.
The DBA may consider CPD activities undertaken in these preceding two years as contributing to these 40 hours. You will be required to provide evidence of CPD completed.
What are the requirements if I am applying for registration for the first time?
If you are registered for the first time as a dental practitioner during the three-year CPD cycle, the minimum required CPD hours will be calculated pro rata. The DBA formula used to calculate the pro rata hours is on the next page:
What are the requirements if I have a condition on my registration to complete a required amount of CPD?
If you have a condition on your registration to complete a required amount of CPD, the DBA requires you to undertake this CPD in addition to the requirement of 60 hours CPD over the three-year cycle.
How do I choose appropriate CPD activities?
You must determine the appropriateness of the CPD activities undertaken. You should choose activities that demonstrate the following characteristics:
- open disclosure about monetary or special interest the course provider may have with any company whose products are discussed in the course
- the scientific basis of the activity is not distorted by commercial considerations. For example, be aware of embedded advertising and direct commercial links
- the learning objectives, independent learning activities and outcomes
- articles from peer-reviewed journals and/or be written by a suitably qualified and experienced individual
- address contemporary clinical and professional issues, reflect accepted dental practice or are based on critical appraisal of scientific literature
- the content of CPD activities must be evidence-based
- where relevant, select CPD activities where you can enquire, discuss and raise queries to ensure that you have understood the information
- if the CPD activity includes an assessment or feedback activity this should be designed to go beyond the simple recall of facts and seek to demonstrate learning with an emphasis on integration and use of knowledge in professional practice
- an opportunity to provide feedback to the CPD provider from participants on the quality of the CPD activity.
A specific consideration should be that the Dental Council of NSW and the DBA both have an expectation that practitioners will recognise the need for ‘refresher’ courses to be undertaken. One such observation is that the Dental Council of NSW view attending an Infection Control course every two years as demonstrating best practice and awareness of a point of strong focus for the Dental Council of NSW.
Note that CPD programs alone cannot be used to increase Scope of Practice.
You must be aware that undertaking a single CPD activity may not provide you with sufficient clinical experience to incorporate techniques and procedures into your practice. CPD relied upon to improve or broaden knowledge should provide experience in the technique or procedure. This may be in a simulated environment.
How do I keep a record of my CPD activities?
You must keep a record of your CPD activities to meet the requirement of the CPD standard. This record will need to be provided when requested by the DBA, such as during a compliance audit or investigation of a notification.
The entry needs to contain at least the following information for each activity:
- the CPD activity provider’s name
- CPD activity name
- journal name, article name, author (where applicable)
- online content/title, DVD title, CD title (where applicable)
- date, time and location of the CPD activity
- number of CPD hours (excluding breaks), and type of CPD hours (scientific/non-scientific) that are awarded as a result of completing the activity.
Where you have been provided with documentation of participation in a CPD activity, this should be included as part of your record. This documentation would usually be included on a certificate of attendance or other form of verification of attendance. Such certification need not be a formal document; it could be an email or an end of year summary from the course provider.
ADA Inc. (the federal body) offers members an online CPD log book and you can login at ada.org.au/portal/ to use this tool. This contains ADA Inc. events, courses and activities and is maintained by ADA Inc. Members can and should add all their external and ADA NSW CPD to this logbook to serve as their main record.
If you want to view your ADA NSW CPD activity, please go to adansw.com.au/CPD/My-CPD and this contains only ADA NSW CPD events, courses and activities and is maintained by ADA NSW CPD. Please note members cannot amend this record.
ADA NSW Centre for Professional Development CPD training
ADA NSW’s Centre for Professional Development adansw.com.au/CPD is Australia’s leading provider of professional development activities for dentists and their teams. The Centre for Professional Development Clinical Training Centre, located at 1 Atchison St, St Leonards, provides a world-class venue for lectures and hands-on workshops. Certain lectures and workshops are also conducted in the ACT and some NSW regional centres. There are over 130 clinical lectures and workshops run by the Centre for Professional Development each year. ADA NSW provide a diversity of non-biased educational programs by renowned local and international presenters for the whole dental team.
To view a list of the current courses ADA NSW’s Centre for Professional Development has to offer, go to adansw.com.au/CPD/Courses.aspx
Further information is available at dentalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines/CPD which includes the below DBA documents.
Dental continuing professional development registration standard (2015)
Dental guidelines on continuing professional development (2015)
FAQ – Continuing professional development (2019)
If you require more information, please do not hesitate to email Advisory Services at advisory@adansw.com.au or call 8436 9944.
