Sir, am I the only one who cringes every time I see a piece of literature from the GDC that carries the header 'The General Dental Council - Protecting patients, regulating dentists'?

This must win the prize for the most negative PR ever foisted on the profession. Shouldn't a more appropriate and patient friendly line perhaps be 'The General Dental Council - Helping patients, supporting dentists'?

As it stands, patients naturally wonder why they need to be protected as a given from the healthcare professionals treating them in the vast majority of cases with holistic consideration and caring professionalism.

Most quality assurance studies will confirm that in all walks of life and occupations people strive to deliver the best they can with the processes on offer. Mistakenly considered no doubt a trendy by-line, this sort of stuff hardly helps, and very effectively becomes alienating and patronising.

Please let's spend some dosh on a good PR person to help the GDC get this right if they do not have sufficient imagination and creativity to do so in-house and are obviously blind to its inherent message!