A note from our President…

The nights are drawing in and it’s getting colder. But the activity at BSP HQ continues unabated. We have had a very busy month, with many of our members representing BSP at the EFP European Workshop on Periodontology held in La Granja, Spain. The workshop was on the topic of “Periodontal Diagnosis – From Advances in Technologies to the 2018 Classification”, and followed the established method of firstly preparing systematic reviews to gather evidence, and then expert consensus to produce the guidance documents. These will be published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology in early 2025. Many thanks to all those who represented the UK and the BSP at the workshop. (Back row, L to R: Philip Preshaw, Thomas Dietrich, Elena Calciolari, Soha Dattani. Front row, L to R: Iain Chapple, Luigi Nibali, Moritz Kebschull, Nicola West).

We will also be publishing our new 5-year Strategic Plan (2025-2030) very soon. Our current strategic plan was implemented from 2019-2024, and it has served us well. However, in the face of ongoing change across all sectors of healthcare, education and dentistry more widely, we have updated and developed our strategy for the next few years. This important work has involved all members of BSP Council working together very closely, with input from the Patient Forum, and the new Strategic Plan will be available soon on the BSP website.

You will hopefully have received your copy of the 2024 Periodical magazine. This issue celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the BSP and is full of wonderful news, updates, success stories, and treasured memories, particularly from some of our Past Presidents. Many thanks to all who have contributed, and I hope that you enjoy reading this issue.

We will have our final Council meeting of the year in early December, and I will be handing over the leadership baton for the Society to Professor Nicola West. As you will have seen, Nicola is working intensively to deliver the BSP Conference 2025, which will be a joint meeting with the BSDHT. This landmark conference, The Oral Health Summit, will be held in the city of Edinburgh, 28-29 November 2025, with additional BSP workshops on 27 November, and is sure to be a fantastic event. Please save the date!