The General Dental Council (UK) convened a small working group in December 2005 to to consider what training standards would be necessary for a general dental practitioner before practising implant dentistry, to publish those standards and then periodically to review them in the light of developments in implant dentistry. Such standards could be used not only by practitioners but also by the GDC in the consideration of patient complaints against dental practitioners who, allegedly, practise implant dentistry beyond the limits of their competence. The GDC and the working group wanted to ensure patient protection by establishing and maintaining standards of training in implant dentistry.
