A golden issue

It is my pleasure to welcome readers to the 50th anniversary issue of Dental Update, an extravaganza comprising specially commissioned articles written by experts in their field (principally members of the Editorial Board of Dental Update, I should add) designed to provide you with an overview of contemporary dentistry, alongside some historical context. Much thanks are due to all the authors who have contributed. This special issue might require some additional reading time, in comparison with ‘normal’ issues and, in light of this, there will be double the number of CPD Questions and, accordingly, double the number of CPD hours on offer. In that regard, I hope that you will be able to find the time to read the issue: I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

Nairn Wilson’s excellent history of the journal tells it all! A clinicians’ journal, written by clinicians for clinicians, still staying true to its original raison d’etre, by being grounded in the realities of the daily work of the (dental) practitioner and the ‘ordinary stuff of dental practice’. In that regard, I still recall receiving the first issue of Dental Update through my letterbox in May 1973. What a surprise – first, because I was not expecting it (as tends to happen with surprises!) and secondly, because the presentation of Dental Update was very different from other journals that I read at that time. It seemed exciting, the articles all had a clinical focus, there were coloured boxes and tables that made the articles easy to read, and advertisements featured too. Today, it remains unique among much that might arrive in your post because it is evidence-based dental publishing at its peer-reviewed best. The fact that I have emboldened peer reviewed is not an accident. So much of what we receive is not peer reviewed and, therefore, less likely to be believable. Unfortunately, the process of peer reviewing of articles costs time and energy, which equates to money, therefore, I know of no peer-reviewed journals or magazines that are free. ‘Be careful about what you read’ is the message. If it’s free, it might not be worth the paper that it’s written on! I very much hope that you will continue to enjoy the Dental Update style of learning, as readers have now been doing for 50 years.