How Bench Hour protects the quality and integrity of your CPD.
Bench Hour is designed to provide rigorous, verifiable CPD specifically for UK dental technicians and clinical dental technicians. This page explains how learning is quality-assured, how completion is recorded and how certificates can be independently verified.
Academic Oversight
Curriculum design, technical content, assessment and Work-based Pathway activities are overseen by qualified dental technology educators, with appropriate GDC registration and higher education experience.
Certificate Verification
Each completed CPD activity receives a unique verification record and QR code. The certificate can be checked against the live Bench Hour verification registry without requiring a Bench Hour account.
Completion Records
Assessment completion, results and relevant CPD records are stored against the registrant's Bench Hour account, providing a clear digital record of completed learning.
Privacy by Design
Bench Hour is designed so that registrants do not need to submit identifiable patient information as evidence of workplace learning. Work-based submissions should be anonymised and limited to information necessary for the CPD activity.
Quality Assurance Declaration
Bench Hour CPD activities are designed around the requirements for verifiable CPD. Each activity includes appropriate educational content, clearly defined aims and objectives, relevant GDC development outcome mapping and a mechanism for demonstrating participation or learning.
Quality Assurance Lead: Chet Geisel, MSc, FHEA, BSc (Hons), PgCTHE
Learning materials, assessments and development outcome mappings are reviewed before publication, with attention to technical accuracy, relevance to dental laboratory practice and the requirements for verifiable CPD.
Certificate Verification
A Bench Hour certificate is more than a downloadable PDF. Each certificate is associated with a unique verification record held in the Bench Hour registry.
When a registrant successfully completes an eligible CPD activity, Bench Hour creates a unique completion record.
The certificate contains a unique verification identifier and QR code linking to the corresponding Bench Hour verification page.
Anyone presented with a Bench Hour certificate can use the verification page to confirm that the certificate corresponds to a genuine Bench Hour completion record.
Work-based CPD & Evidence
The Bench Hour Work-based Pathway is designed to connect CPD directly with the registrant's own professional practice. Activities may be based on workplace responsibilities, technical challenges, new skills, processes, equipment or other relevant areas of professional development.
The purpose of the pathway is not simply to record that an activity happened. Registrants are encouraged to identify what they are learning, why it is relevant to their professional practice and what evidence demonstrates their development.
Where workplace evidence is required, registrants should anonymise any material and must not submit identifiable patient information. Bench Hour does not require patient records, clinical photographs containing identifiable information or other unnecessary personal data for the purpose of completing work-based CPD.
Independence & Transparency
Bench Hour is an independent CPD provider developed and operated under the Dental Apptitude umbrella.
Bench Hour is not affiliated with, endorsed by, approved by or quality-assured by the General Dental Council.
The GDC does not approve individual CPD providers. Providers are responsible for the quality assurance of their own educational activities, while registrants remain responsible for ensuring that the CPD they undertake is appropriate to their field of practice and meets their individual GDC requirements.
We therefore make our approach to educational governance, quality assurance, verification and GDC development outcome mapping openly available so that registrants can make an informed decision about the CPD they undertake.
AI & Technology Policy
Bench Hour may use digital authoring tools and AI-assisted technology during the development of educational materials. These tools may assist with research, organisation and initial drafting, but they do not replace subject-matter expertise or constitute the final editorial authority.
Published technical content, calculations, laboratory recommendations, assessments and regulatory information are subject to human review before publication.
Where appropriate, source material is checked against academic literature, technical standards, manufacturer information and relevant UK guidance.
A named person stands behind the programme.
Bench Hour is not an anonymous content platform. Educational governance and quality assurance are the responsibility of a named professional, with the programme developed under Dental Apptitude.