The General Dental Council (GDC) has announced that Catherine Brady has been appointed by the Privy Council to take office as a GDC member on June1, 2015. She is a GDP based in Banbury, North Oxfordshire. She has been a member of the GDC’s Fitness to Practise panel since 2007. She is the training programme director for Foundation Training in Buckinghamshire and associate clinical director for Rodericks Ltd.
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The European Commission has published a final Opinion on the safety of dental amalgam and alternative dental restoration materials, concluding that current evidence does not preclude the use of either amalgam or alternative materials in dental restorative treatment. Currently throughout the EU, there is a shift away from the use of dental amalgam in oral health care towards an increased use of alternative materials.
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Read more: European Commission publishes final opinion on amalgam
The Telegraph and The Sunday Times have reported that Europe's biggest dental chain, Integrated Dental Holdings (IDH), has revived plans for a £1bn London stock market float. IDH is currently majority owned by Carlyle, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. A listing of IDH, which has over 600 practices across England, Scotland and Wales, will mean ‘a £150m pay-day for the company’s senior managers’, who own a 15.5pc stake in the company.
The Sunday Mirror has reported that some beauty salons are ‘using toxic chemicals with 200 times legal level of bleach’ to whiten teeth. These levels of hydrogen peroxide were discovered after trading standards officers ‘swooped on salons promising punters a perfect Hollywood smile’. The revelation comes after the paper told how unqualified practitioners were cashing in on the £1billion industry, ‘putting customers’ health at risk.’
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The Queens Speech at the State Opening of Parliament contained no specific mention of dentistry and, to quote the BDA, ‘was devoid of references to reform of healthcare regulation’. There will be legislation to restrict the right to strike for workers in services, such as healthcare. For the NHS the Government’s aim is a ‘shift to seven day a week opening with improved access and better links between services’.
Change is on the way. Dental Protection’s 2015 Annual Review, titled ‘Change’, will soon be sent to its 66,000 members. Kevin Lewis Dental Director said: “This year’s Annual Review encourages the reader to pause in the face of so much change, and to consider what it all means and how it is affecting our professional lives.”
Read more: Pause and consider is message from Dental Protection