Advice centre

Dental Protection dento-legal adviser and practising dentist, Dr Raj Rattan, advises young dentists to be aware of the factors that can lead to sub-optimal care legal pitfalls in practice that could result in patient litigation.

Treatment of your first patient is, without doubt, one of the biggest hurdles in the dental career pathway. Kalpesh Prajapat a fourth year Dental Student, shares his experience on the invasive treatment of his first paediatric patient; highlighting the fundamentals to success.

An injection of local anaesthetic or the provision of high concentration fluoride products are procedures that are controlled by the Medicines Act 1968 because they involve the use of prescription-only medicines (POMs). This means they can only be prescribed by a suitably qualified prescriber. The General Dental Council has no influence over this legislation and it is quite separate from the direct access regulations introduced in May 2013.

Dental Protection is disappointed to see that a recent Which? report on dental treatment and costs oversimplifies a complex and highly individual range of treatment options and undermines the relationship between the patient and their dentist.

When the practice receives a complaint it must acknowledge the complaint not later than 3 working days after the day on which it was received. At the same time, an offer must be made to discuss with the patient the handling of the complaint and the likely period for the investigation and response.

A young dentist shares his experience of foundation training and how to provide the best patient care to achieve a happy patient.

Owning your own practice is seen by many as a natural career progression and it can be rewarding both financially and professionally. Whilst you must seek professional advice, here are some of the key points you should consider in what will be one of the biggest decisions you will make...

Hannah Morison graduated from Cardiff Dental School in 2012. Hannah currently works as an SHO in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Northern Ireland. She has also undertaken a year of training as an SHO in Orthodontics and Paediatric Dentistry at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.