Sixty years on and after a few false dawns, we could be about to see skill mix take finally off in UK dentistry. The latest GDC registration figures show a clear trend that will support such changes.
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Reports of illegal practice from the UK and further afield tend to involve unqualified individuals delivering dentisry- anything ranging from whitening, to operative procedures such as veneers. But a recent case in Wigan involved a qualified operator, he just happened to have the wrong qualification.
The recently triumphant Prime Minister has had to abandon his summer holiday after widespread unrest and rioting. Now there are signs that the Governments NHS honeymoon may be coming to a cheerless end.
We now know that the promised discussions between the profession and Department of Health and Social Care are under way to try and make progress on NHS dental contract reform. The first meeting has taken place between Shawn Charlwood, Eddie Crouch, and Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State with responsibility for primary care.
The handling of a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request has shown the GDC demonstrating their love hate relationship with the concepts of trust and transparency. That the FOI was related to an area where the GDC‘s performance has been recognised as particularly poor, underlines the gulf between what they say and what they do.
The General Dental Council [GDC] has a history of using covert surveillance including under-guise investigators, when building Fitness to Practise (FTP) cases. In 2021 it admitted ‘unlawfully undertaking an under-guise operation without reasonable justification‘, and paid an undisclosed sum of damages to a clinical dental technician supported by Dental Protection. The GDC had instructed an under-guise operation creating a fictitious scenario with two private investigators posing as relatives of “Evelyn”, an elderly relative who needed dentures but was too ill to attend in person.
Read more: GDC To Continue Surveillance and Under Guise Investigations
Leading dental implant manufacturer Straumann has sold DrSmile, its direct-to-consumer clear-aligner business to Barcelona based Impress Group.
As our readers know, magnifying loupes are invaluable to many dental clinicians, and now the market for dental loupes has received some close inspection itself.
As clinicians know to their cost, the threat of a clinical negligence accusation is an ‘occupational hazard‘ across all medical sectors and dentistry is no exception.
Read more: Clinical Negligence Legal Costs Must Be Contained Warns DDU