a exhibitors - Dental Showcase

Continuing Professional Development CPD
Inappropriate use of the prescription will leave much
of the decision making to the technician.’
The Medical Devices Directive
It is over two years since changes were made
to the Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EC
affecting the provision and manufacture of dental
appliances. The GDC has published ‘Standards
on Commissioning and Manufacturing Dental
Appliances’ which is available on its website4 .
One of the key issues arising from the amendment
was the Statement of Manufacture. Patients must
be made aware that they can request a statement
of manufacture and registrants have a responsibility
to ensure that it is made available if it is requested.
Not doing so is punishable as a criminal offence.
Any registrant providing a patient with a dental
appliance is responsible for ensuring that they
are offered a copy of the statement and provided
with such a copy if it is requested. A record should
be kept of whether or not the patient chooses
to accept a copy of the statement. If the patient
doesn’t accept a copy, the registrant will need to
keep the statement for the lifetime of the appliance.
If a dentist or other dental care professional
decides to sub-contract the manufacture of a
dental appliance outside of the UK, they will be
held professionally accountable for the safety and
quality of the appliance. This will include ensuring
that the statement of manufacture - or if outside of
the EU, the name and address of the manufacturer
- are disclosed to the registrant who prescribed the
appliance as well as to the patient.
Scope of practice
The General Dental Council registers all members
of the dental team and places obligations on its
registrants, such as paying an Annual Registration
Fee (ARF) and carrying out both verifi able and
non-verifi able Continuing Professional Development
(CPD). It also publishes the scope of practice for
each class of registrant.
This Scope of Practice document5 is being revised
in 2012 and once published will be essential
reading for all members of the dental team. Despite
the review the current document still stands and
should be used until a revised version is produced.
It defi nes the roles of technicians and clinical dental
technicians within the dental team.
Dental technicians
Dental technicians are registered dental
professionals who make dental devices including
dentures, crowns and bridges to a prescription from
a dentist or clinical dental technician. They also
repair dentures direct for members of the public.
The Scope of Practice document outlines the
working relationship between dentist and
technician. In the course of their work dental
technicians:
review cases coming into the laboratory to decide
how they should be progressed
work with the dentist or clinical dental technician
on treatment planning and outline design
design, plan and make a range of custom-made
dental devices according to a prescription
repair and modify dental devices
carry out shade taking
carry out infection control procedures to
prevent physical, chemical and microbiological
contamination in the laboratory
keep full and accurate laboratory records
verify and take responsibility for the quality and
safety of devices leaving a laboratory
make appropriate referrals to other healthcare
professionals.
The Scope of Practice document also lists additional
skills which dental technicians could develop during
their careers. These could include, for instance,
working with a dentist in the clinic and assisting
with treatment by taking impressions, recording
facebows, and recording occlusal registrations. It
also lays down what dental technicians do not do.
This includes working independently in the clinic,
performing clinical procedures related to providing
removable dental appliances and carrying out
independent clinical examinations.
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