Policy Statement 3.5 - Areas of Practice Adjunctive to Dentistry

Position Summary

Dentists practising in areas adjunctive to dentistry should have completed approved training and be endorsed by the Dental Board of Australia.

1. Background

1.1. The Board and other regulatory authorities in Australia have introduced specific requirements, including educational programs, which dentists must fulfil if they are to include certain areas of practice adjunctive to dentistry. However, such requirements do not confer specialist status.

1.2. Currently the only area of practice adjunctive to dentistry that the Board requires endorsement is conscious sedation.

1.3. The Australian Dental Council (ADC) or the Board offers a process for certification of programs which are a requirement to gain endorsement to practise in areas adjunctive to dentistry.

Definitions

1.4. AREAS OF PRACTICE ADJUNCTIVE TO DENTISTRY are additional parts of dental practice which are not usually taught in dentist training programs. These could include acupuncture, conscious sedation for dental procedures, hypnosis, and some external cosmetic procedures.

1.5. BOARD is the Dental Board of Australia.

1.6. A DENTIST is an appropriately qualified dental practitioner, registered by the Board to practise all areas of dentistry

1.7. CONSCIOUS SEDATION means a technique in which the use of a drug or drugs administered by the intra-venous route produces a state of depression of the central nervous system enabling treatment to be carried out, and in which:

• verbal contact with the patient can be maintained or the patient responds appropriately to stimulation, and

• the drugs and techniques used have a margin of safety wide enough to render unintended loss of consciousness unlikely.

2. Policy

2.1. Dentists practising in areas adjunctive to dentistry should have completed approved training and be endorsed by the Dental Board of Australia.

2.2. Dentists must only include those areas of practice adjunctive to dentistry if they have fulfilled the Board requirements.

2.3. Where a Board requires endorsement to practise in an area adjunctive to dentistry, a dentist must obtain such endorsement prior to commencing practice in that area.

2.4. To ensure uniformity, the ADC is the appropriate body to certify educational requirements for areas of practice adjunctive to dentistry.

2.5. Endorsement of areas of practice adjunctive to dentistry must not confer specialist status.

2.6. Where there is no formal training program available, dentists are expected to demonstrate appropriate levels of education and training to justify such adjunctive practice and ensure commensurate public safety.