A total of 13 CPD courses were included in this study. The mean duration for CPD courses was 0.94 years, and all courses were delivered in part-time mode. The mean tuition fee per course was £7543.08. Eleven of these courses were verifiable CPD courses, and two courses were providing certificates only, which would be considered as non-verifiable CPD courses. Of 11 institutions who declared that they provide verifiable CPD courses, 10 institutions stated the exact number of CPD hours delivered throughout their courses; the average number of CPD hours delivered amongst these institutions was 81.00 h (Table 4).

There were four courses that stated the number of intake in each cohort, and this varied between 4 and 24. Ten courses also provided the profiles of the trainers or mentors on their website. Ten courses clearly stated that they are able to provide mentoring for implant placements on patients; seven courses had mentoring component throughout the course and three offered it following completion of the course. Interestingly, the number of patients supervised varied significantly between 1 and 50. Of the remaining three courses, two courses did not offer any mentoring opportunities and one did not clarify this on their website.

Most of CPD courses identified had a modular learning structure of theoretical components of Dental Implantology. They typically consisted of 6 to12 study days on a monthly basis, and these sessions also covered practical components such as placement of implants on plastic jaw models. The clinical mentoring was offered in various different settings depending on the arrangement made by the provider. This included regional training centres as well as the trainee’s own practice where they place an implant under supervision of accredited mentors visiting their practices.

The standards from FGDP (UK) TSID 2016 guideline covered by the identified CPD courses are summarised in Fig. 1.