The General Dental Council has voted to allow greater lay representation on its ruling body to counter public concern about complaints relating to NHS and private dentistry. At its meeting earlier this month, the council agreed to set up a 'smaller, more strategic' body which will comprise 11 lay members and 12 professional members, including the president, and the four chief dental officers of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as associate members. The council also agreed that health and professional conduct cases should in future be decided by a panel of lay and professional people who are not members of the GDC. The move comes in the light of recent high-profile cases in which dentists have been found guilty of earning excessive amounts by carrying out unneccessary procedures.