The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) is an initiative of the National Dental Advisory Committee (NDAC) and is part of NHS Education for Scotland (NES).
The NDAC is a body of dental professionals, representing all branches of the profession, which acts in an advisory capacity to the Chief Dental Officer. It considers issues that are of national importance in Scottish dentistry and also provides feedback to other bodies within the Scottish Government on related, relevant healthcare matters.
SDCEP comprises the core Programme Development Team and several guidance development groups. The Programme Development Team, based in Dundee Dental Education Centre, facilitates all aspects of guidance development, including information and evidence searching and appraisal, research, liaising with external organisations, editing, publication and dissemination. The programme’s primary aim is to develop guidance that supports dental teams to provide quality patient care. SDCEP brings together the best available information that is relevant to priority areas in dentistry, and presents guidance on best practice in a form that can be interpreted easily and implemented. The guidance recommendations may be based on a variety of sources of information, including research evidence, guidelines, legislation, policies and expert opinion as appropriate to the subject. SDCEP guidance takes a variety of forms to suit the diverse topics being addressed.
SDCEP is funded by NHS Education for Scotland and has made important contributions to the implementation of the Scottish Government’s Dental Action Plan, which aims to both modernise dental services and improve oral health in Scotland.