BDA and the younger dentist
(The term ‘young’ in this context, means qualified within the last 10 Years).
What is a Young Dentist Group (YDG)?
A group of young dentists who meet in an informal atmosphere to discuss the future of the profession through
scientific, clinical and political aims. These groups operate across the UK for the members’ convenience and allow
practitioners in all spheres an effective channel of communication, which encourages maximum participation with
minimum effort.
A Young Dentist Group feeds the views of dentists to the policy-making bodies of the BDA; creating that vital voice
of the Young Professional Dentist. Many participants continue to be involved with the BDA developing their career
and the profession for the future.
The BDA’s Young Dentist Committee is elected from members via constituency area. They then express the views
of the dentist to the policy-making bodies of the BDA and a number of other professional bodies such as the GDC.
Members who are interested in joining or starting one of these groups should contact the BDA at
[email protected].
Starting up a new Young Dentist Group
1.
Getting Started

YDG’s can be set up in any geographical area under the umbrella of a BDA Branch.

Financial Support should be forthcoming from the BDA Branch, as well as help with ideas for future events.

Get as many young dentists in the area to participate by making it as accessible as possible. Data can be
obtained by contacting the Branch and Section Liaison Officer.

Organise an informal gathering and invite all young practitioners in the area along, see how much interest
there is. If using a local restaurant ask for a group discount.

Send out meeting information inviting dentists, by email or social media. The BDA can provide information
to contact young dentists in the area, but can also offer an email service direct. Remember to add your
contact details to any invitation you send.

There is also the possibility of using other media routes like BDA Communities, Facebook and Twitter,
building up a following in this way can make educational and networking events better attended.

Find a good venue with easy access and adequate public transport links. Provide a map or directions with
the mailing.

Act as the contact point for the initial meeting: the name and address on the invitation should be a local
one. Let the BDA know the Branch and Section that you are affiliated to, and the towns/area your group
will cover.

If a dentist were not a BDA member, it would be advisable to make a charge to the meeting for these
dentists after the initial one.
Now you’re in business! But, please also note the following:
2.

Give as much notice of a meeting as possible and allow at least 10 days to get the invitations sent out

Allow a further 4-6 weeks for people to respond

Give the RSVP date a week before the event; this permits sufficient time to inform the venue of final
numbers

Don’t be discouraged if initial response is slow; not everyone will respond to every mailing, and groups take
time to become established

Send promotional material to your local branch, section, salaried groups, training centres and the BDA to
help maximize your chances of recruiting people

The BDA can list your event on the BDA website and with sufficient notice (4 weeks) advertise include in
weekly emails.
The first event
Hopefully, you should get a fair first response and if you contact the BDA you may be able to get a member of BDA
staff to attend your first meeting. They will give some advice on what to do next.
Providing people have a good time, they will be keen to repeat the experience, so you should take a straw poll
towards the end of the evening to find this out. Be encouraged by feedback, good and bad, this can help develop
the group to maximize appeal. If members give strong opinions it is a good idea to get them involved by asking
them to join the organising committee!
Assuming that there is general interest:
3.
READ ON!
A committee

Ask for volunteers at the first event to form a small committee who will organize future events and keep
things ticking over.

You will need a minimum of a secretary and a treasurer, an event organizer/sponsorship officer, ideally two
or three others should be involved.

More people means more ideas

It may be useful to consider who your constituents are: if you cover a wide area ask for volunteers from
different locations – they can help publicise the group by word of mouth.
It is best to keep the committee informal (although model rules are available should you need them). If you want,
elect a chairperson, but most YDGs work quite well if the committee meets every one/two months around a pub
table/coffee house to plan future activities and divide responsibilities.
You will need a representative on the BDA Branch Council, this person can be elected from the existing committee,
as the best person to represent your YDG to others is usually those who are most involved. There is also some scope
to be involved with the Young Dentist Committee (YDC) who are elected by young members of the BDA.
4.
Future meetings
YDGs should aim to organise three types of meetings:
Social
Clinical
Dento-Poltical
Social events range from wine tasting to paint balling. Local knowledge is usually best here, so pick the brains of
your whole committee and anyone else who seems to know about good places to go and things to do in your area.
Social events that members can bring the family or friends to, such as summer BBQ’s, might also be attractive,
particularly for members with smaller children.
Clinical topics should be those that are of interest to your YDG. From your initial meeting you should have an idea of
which topics would be best supported. Information on speakers can be supplied by the BDA via the Branch & Section
Liaison Officer or the Events team, or you may know of someone locally who is a good speaker. BDA staff can also
speak on topics i.e. Pensions, Setting up in Practice, Health and Safety, plus contractual issues. The BDA will only
charge you for travel and subsistence when using a member of staff as a speaker. If you have a preferred topic, but
are unsure who can speak on it, the Branch & Section Liaison Officer can usually point you in the right direction.
Dento-political topics could include things like associate contract issues, Private/NHS treatment; corporate bodies,
new developments in continuing education or other relevant (and often controversial) subjects.
There are no hard and fast rules on how many of each type of meeting you should have each year, it’s important to
have a mix of everything.
5.
Money
Although the structure of YDGs is designed to be informal, we do need some formality with regard to financial
matters. Your treasurer should be good with figures, trustworthy and easily contactable.
You will need to set up a bank account or the Branch may offer to help here. Section 2, BDA Finance & Governance
Issues of this handbook gives guidance and further details. Most banks and building societies provide facilities in the
form of ‘club and society’ accounts, but quite a lot of them levy charges - you should check first.
As a starting point, you should approach your local BDA branch with your ideas and seek funding. Some branches
budget a year in advance, but most should have the flexibility to support you. Branch funds are allocated on a permember-in-the-area basis, so if your reason for establishing a group is lack of interaction at branch and section
events, this is a reasonable bargaining tool to ask for support. You are encouraged to develop good relationships
with your branch, as it is mutually beneficial for everyone to work together. Branch secretaries also have a wealth of
experience in organising events and can offer great advice. Remember that you will also need to attend branch
council meetings (three per year) to give a report of progress.
Once the YDG is established and you have the name of your bank account and details this information must be sent
to the BDA Finance Department and Branch/Section Liaison officer, as well as your Branch Treasurer.
You are free to seek sponsorship and/or other forms of finance for specific events if you need to. You should also use
your discretion as to whether or not any YDG events incur a charge to attendees. While most meetings and events
would normally be free to attend, it would probably be appropriate, for example, to charge part of the cost if you are
organising events that involve overnight stays and/or meals.
6.
BDA membership
The BDA positively encourages the involvement of non-members in the initial meeting. All young dentists in the area
should be contacted for the initial event, whether they are members or not. We see YDGs as a useful means of
promoting the BDA and encouraging membership by the younger dentists and students, so only members will
receive central correspondence thereafter. Non-members should not be officers on the committee of your YDG or
vote at meetings. You should continue to encourage them to come along to local events. However, you should
question continuing attendance without joining the BDA. Allowing non-members to benefit from BDA activities also
provides a clear disincentive for other members to belong to the BDA. One other aspect to consider regarding
non-members attending your meetings is to levy a fee to non-members, which members attend free. More
information on this can be found in Section 3 of the handbook. Our membership department target non-members
with incentive deals on membership on an ongoing basis do ask for details.
7.
Young Dentists Committee (YDC)
The YDC is an important committee of the BDA, whose views are fed directly to the policy-making bodies of the
Association. It also has cross-representation on a number of other committees, to ensure that the voice of young
dentists is heard, e.g. at the GDPC, the main negotiating body for GDPs, and the Country Councils. The committee
meets two or three times a year, at BDA Headquarters, and full subsistence and travel allowances are paid. Young
dentist members in all areas of the UK have the opportunity to be elected to the committee. We also have a YD
executive that consists of five members, the chair, vice chair and three officers, who meet on a more regular basis to
enable the committee to be proactive in decisions.
8.
Relations with the BDA branch
It is very important that YDG’s maintain a good relationship with the main BDA branch and section(s) in their area.
Hopefully, the YDG officers will get a taste for BDA activities and will ultimately ‘progress’ into running/being
involved with the BDA branch/section itself. .Most branches have arrangements for YDG groups in their area to sit
on their Branch Council - you should take up the offer if made.
9.
Rules and regulations
Model rules and regulations can be found in Section 2 General Governance Issues of this handbook, but provided
you abide by the above guidelines, written rules should not be necessary - the BDA will assume that you work within
the guidelines unless you state otherwise. However, if you do feel the need to establish formal rules and procedures
for meetings, please use those included in Section 8, Templates, and electronic versions may also be downloaded
from the Secretaries and Treasurers Community page, under the Media section. All BDA groups, no matter how
formal or informal, remain subject to the rules of the Association, including the Code of Conduct and Equal
Opportunities Policy. Copies of these are available on request.
10. In the event of dormancy...
It is in the nature of younger people that they move on to further their careers. Particularly if your YDG is based on
FDs/VTs, you may find that many of the officers and members move away at some point. Usually, it will be possible
to find replacements from others in the group - ask for help if you need it. If, however, it is not possible and the YDG
effectively dies out, the bank accounts and other details should be handed over to the BDA centrally. Any money can
then be re-directed, (even back to the same area if another group is set up in the same financial year).
11. Help and advice
The BDA’s Branch & Section Liaison Officer is available for help and advice on all aspects of running your YDG as are
other members of the B&S team. Contact: 02920 496174 option 1 or E-mail: [email protected]
12. And finally...
Hopefully, the above is everything you need to know to set up and start running a YDG. The main things to bear in
mind are that you should all enjoy it and get something worthwhile out of the meetings. Please keep the BDA,
nationally and locally informed of your progress.
Good luck!
Dec 2016