Guidance for Members
Using your postnominal
Membership grades are professional designations, not academic qualifications. This is how to display MBCDIS, ABCDIS, FBCDIS and Hon FBCDIS correctly — with worked examples for email signatures, practice websites, LinkedIn, printed materials, signage, and media.
1Purpose
This page sets out how holders of a membership grade of the British College of Dental Implant Surgery should display and describe their designation. It applies to all four grades:
Members are personally responsible for ensuring that the presentation of their credentials complies with the General Dental Council’s Standards for the Dental Team and does not mislead patients as to the nature or status of any qualification, award or membership.
Under the Regulations
This guidance is a mandatory reference under Regulation MF-30. Material misrepresentation using the College’s postnominal in a way that misleads patients as to the nature of the award is a ground for withdrawal of membership under Regulation MF-15.
2The core distinction
Qualifications
Educational awards conferred by recognised awarding bodies — for example BDS, MSc, MClinDent, or the EduQual Diploma in Implant Dentistry (SCQF Level 11).
Membership grades
Denote membership of a professional college or organisation — for example MRCS, FRCS, MCGDent, or MBCDIS / FBCDIS.
These two categories are distinct. MBCDIS (or ABCDIS, FBCDIS, Hon FBCDIS) is a professional membership designation and not an academic qualification recognised for GDC registration. Presenting a College postnominal in a way that could reasonably be interpreted as an academic qualification risks misleading patients — which is precisely what the GDC’s guidance on ethical advertising is designed to prevent.
3The recommended format
Show your academic qualifications and your College membership as distinct categories.
On websites, use two clearly labelled headings:
4What to avoid
Do not present:
on the same line as academic qualifications without any explanatory framing. A reader — particularly a patient — could reasonably assume MBCDIS is another academic qualification or GDC-recognised award. Separating the two categories removes that ambiguity.
The College also asks members not to:
- Abbreviate to “BCDIS-certified” or “BCDIS-accredited”. This implies a certification or accreditation of the practice or practitioner, not membership of the College.
- Append “(Cert.)” or “Dip” to MBCDIS. This implies an underlying qualification.
- Describe the College as a regulator. Phrasing such as “Member of the governing body for implant dentistry” is inaccurate. The General Dental Council is the statutory regulator of dental professionals in the United Kingdom; the British College of Dental Implant Surgery is a professional body.
5Context by context
5.1 Email signature
Academic qualifications on one line; the College membership described in full on the next.
5.2 Practice website — About / Meet the Team pages
Use two clearly labelled lists, as shown in §3 above. This is the format most patients read carefully, and the format most likely to be misused if a web designer is asked simply to “add MBCDIS after Dr Smith’s letters”. Provide the correct structure to your website team when you join the College.
5.3 LinkedIn and professional directories
Place BDS/MSc and other academic qualifications in your profile headline. Place “Member of the British College of Dental Implant Surgery” in your About or Experience section as a full sentence. Do not include MBCDIS in the profile headline alongside academic qualifications.
5.4 Printed materials — business cards, letterheads, brochures
Same principle. If space allows only one line, prefer the full sentence — “Member of the British College of Dental Implant Surgery” — over the abbreviated postnominal.
5.5 Practice signage and nameplates
Do not include MBCDIS on a nameplate that lists BDS/MSc unless the two are visually separated (a second line, a divider, or the words “Member of” spelled out).
5.6 Verbal use and media
In podcast introductions, journalist bios, and public speaking, prefer the full sentence: “Dr Smith, a Member of the British College of Dental Implant Surgery”. Postnominals used verbally can read as specialty labels; the full-sentence form is unambiguous.
6Good standing
Use of the postnominal is permitted only while your membership is in good standing — subscription current, annual CPD declaration made, GDC registration (or equivalent overseas registration) maintained, and use consistent with this guidance.
If your membership lapses, is withdrawn, or is removed by the Board, the postnominal must not be used and any published references to it (email signatures, websites, directories, printed materials) must be updated at your earliest opportunity.
The College publishes a public register at bcdis.co.uk/register showing the current status of every consenting member. Members are encouraged to check their own entry regularly and to notify the College of any inaccuracies.
7Enforcement
Misuse can be actioned
Misrepresentation of the postnominal — in particular presentation that could mislead patients as to the nature of the award — is a matter both for the College under Regulation MF-15 and, potentially, for the General Dental Council under its Standards for the Dental Team and for the Advertising Standards Authority under the CAP Code.
The College reserves the right to withdraw membership where such misrepresentation is upheld, following the notice and representation procedure set out in the Regulations.
8A note on royal-college practice
In practice, holders of some royal-college postnominals (such as MRCS or FRCS) sometimes list their college designations inline with academic qualifications. The College notes this practice but recommends the stricter form set out in §3 of this document. It is the form the College uses in all of its own materials and its published register, and the form patients understand most clearly.
9Contact
Questions about this guidance should be directed to the College at [email protected].