Induction to general dental practice in your Training Practice as a process that is meant to give you a very firm foundation upon which you can build a successful dental career. It is to help give you and your Educational Supervisor (ES) assurance that you are confident and competent in all the areas of practice that you require at this stage of the year.
You have probably had a period of several months without seeing and treating patients and it is important that you have the assurance that your confidence and your skills are still keen. It is not reasonable to expect you to be responsible for patient care if you are not confident that you have the skills present for their needs.

In your induction you will cover three main areas:

• Practice based knowledge and skills
  How does your new practice run? What are the protocols and procedures for dealing with the day to day business of practice? You will cover all these items, inducing the layout and equipment of your surgery, the team that will be working with you, the health and safety requirements of the practice.
  
   
• Clinical skills
  Your ES will spend time with you making an assessment of your skills and experience gained whilst at dental school and during any other dental work you may have undertaken. There will be opportunities for carrying out work on extracted teeth, and using the materials available to you in the practice. There will be opportunities for you to undertake observation of other members of the team, in a structured way, helping you to learn about the protocols of your new practice.
  
   
• Regulatory / Administrative knowledge and experience
  Before treating patients you will need to be sure of the NHS regulations that govern your provision of care. You need also to know about how the practice computer system works and also how the appointment system works.
   

As part of your induction your ES will spend time introducing you to your E-Portfolio and the induction process will be recorded there.