The first day of foundation training can be daunting. It will be the first day when you introduce yourself as 'the dentist' and no longer a student. With this comes new found responsibility and freedom to make your own treatment plans.

Emily Hooper volunteered for two weeks in Nepal, to experience and practise dentistry in a foreign country in order to gain further clinical experience in a different working environment.

James Foster explains why you should be extremely careful about what treatment you agree to provide for your patients when there is a poor chance of long-term success. Warning them of the risk alone is not sufficient.

It is often the case that when you become an associate for the first time, you may not fully understand the implications of being self-employed. The associate ship arrangement is unique to the dental industry and therefore you shouldn't be afraid to ask questions about the arrangement with your practice owner.

Simon Quelch discusses the boundaries of responsibility that exist between the trainer and the foundation dentist.

Theesan Vedan studied at the University of The Western Cape in January 2013. He has since taken up a position as a Military Dentist for the South African Defence. Theesan is dedicated in pursuing a career in dental education and has a keen interest in writing, especially if it is dental related.

A recent graduate talks us through her experiences of volunteering and the understanding she gained.

Tom Dudding studied dentistry at Bristol and graduated in 2012 following a degree in Biochemistry at Birmingham.

My appointment was split in to two posts: one as an Oral Surgery Senior House Officer at Cardiff University School of Dentistry and one as a Dental Officer at Barry Community Clinic.

For any final year dental student, the thought of standing up and presenting a case in front of tutors eager to pick your brains and home in on even the tiniest of areas you might not know about, can be a daunting prospect. Fortunately, tutors are not all as terrible as we think and neither are the presentations… if you know what they are looking for.

She had the choice of a number of different countries including Sweden, Norway, Paris, Turkey and Latvia. She chose Norway and here she tells us all about it. Above is an image of the Northern Lights that she captured!

There can be very few of us who have not benefited from the wisdom of hindsight in the course of our clinical career.

This young dentist studied at King's College in London and qualified in 2010. They have written an article about NHS dentistry and its future amongst newly qualified dentists. This article will explore the benefits of hospital training post qualification.

A revealing measure of a dentist's level of care and commitment to patients' needs can be found in the way they deal with emergencies.

An interesting contrast between legal cases which involve dental practitioners, and those which involve medical practitioners, is that medical practitioners are often accused of 'failing to treat' or of 'delaying treatment' but rarely 'over treatment'.

Ayesha Khan is a final year student at Leeds University and she hopes to qualify in 2014. This article focuses on her invaluable experiences gained from carrying out a dental volunteering placement in Cambodia.

Every new practice is an opportunity to gain new experiences, meet new patients, work with new professional colleagues, try different things and hopefully learn and develop in some way.

Patient interest in obtaining a pleasing aesthetic result shows no signs of diminishing.

Raise your hand if you've ever had an unsatisfied patient. My guess is that everyone's got their hand up. If you haven't, unfortunately it will happen at some point.

Sarah graduated from the University of Leeds in 2012 she is currently undertaking a DF2 post in Primary Dental Care. Sarah says "I want to encourage others to consider a community position as a great deal can be learned and experienced."

It has long been recognised that there are particular risks associated with treating patients who we know little or nothing about.

Allegations of overtreatment take many different forms, but the majority of such allegations imply an improper motive on the part of the clinician.

Jen Cheah is a 3rd year dental student from Victoria, Australia. His article tells of a dental student's experience into the wide world of rural and remote dentistry faced against the challenges and limitations of cultural barriers and a lack of electricity and water supply to overcome the dire oral health issues that face Mildura and Robinvale in rural and remote Victoria.

Alexandra Lyne (Lexy) qualified from Manchester University and is currently doing a DF1 year in London.