Over the past year, Quick Response (QR) codes have played a significant role in our day-to-day lives in reducing the transmission and tracking the spread of COVID-19. In this article, we share our innovation utilising QR codes to replace paper information leaflets allowing patients to immediately access the required information on their own personal device. This is contactless and therefore preferred to reduce viral transmission, as well as having several other advantages. Our findings demonstrate that QR codes are a familiar, easy-to-use system and a preferred tool for delivering patient information over paper leaflets. The findings and methodology may be of benefit to other units seeking to improve their infection control in the COVID-19 era.

We describe an unusual case of an odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) associated with an ungrafted left-sided alveolar cleft in a 10-year-old male patient. There is no previous report in the literature of OKC or other dental cysts associated with an alveolar cleft. We discuss the management of the OKC prior to secondary bone grafting and present this case to highlight the difficulty in the management of OKC concurrent with grafting of the alveolar cleft site, the proximity of unerupted permanent teeth, and possible treatment modalities.

Safeguarding is an important part of an orthodontist’s working life, as such there are several organisations and a plethora of legislation. These strive to ensure orthodontists implement the safeguarding agenda in their working environment. This article will provide background information on safeguarding. It then focuses on the development and training of dentists. The article looks at approaches that have been used in a hospital setting to engage staff and to generate clinical implementation.