The Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent UK professional body committed to enabling dental specialists to provide patients with the highest possible standards of practice and care. The faculty is an integral part of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is located at the College's headquarters in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London.
The faculty was established in 1957 to meet the requirement that the training of dental specialists involves the same academic discipline as that demanded for medicine and surgery. Subsequent to the 1946 NHS Act UK dental graduates were required to show evidence of several years' postgraduate training in all aspects of dentistry and to have acquired a recognised postgraduate qualification.
There are two other faculties of dental surgery in the UK: one based at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the other a part of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. There is also a Faculty of Dentistry which is a part of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. All four faculties work closely together on many professional issues.