Positioning, identity and professionalism: a searching question for dental faculties.

As the new Joint Dental Council appointed by the two Dental Faculties of The Royal College of Surgeons of England begins its work to improve inter-faculty collaboration, this paper suggests some of the issues that will need to be addressed. Drawing on the concepts of 'positioning', 'identity' and 'professionalism', the question is raised as to how the Faculties may seek to engage more meaningfully with dental professionals at large. The need for all Dental Faculties in the British Isles to learn to work together is emphasised. Attention is drawn to the importance, in the rapidly evolving social context in which dental professionals work, of reflecting deeply on the nature of professionalism in contemporary society, and the moral and humanitarian issues that need to be addressed if dentists are to continue to be deemed worthy of the status 'profession'.