Transition to national registration

The Dental Board of Australia has just announced decisions made at its March meeting on a range of matters that will impact on the transition to the national registration and accreditation scheme.

They are:

Registration transition arrangements

Every registered dental practitioner will receive a letter from the Board this month explaining each practitioner’s registration type from 1 July. The letter will show the information that will appear on the online national Register of Dental Practitioners. Practitioners should ensure that contact details held by their State or Territory Board are accurate and up to date before 30 June.

Regional Boards

Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT will have a Regional Board.

Scope of Practice

The Board has clarified that the Scope of Practice is drafted to reflect the current scope of practice which exists for oral health therapists, dental therapists and dental hygienists. The term supervision in the Scope of Practice Registration Standard is defined as oversight, direction, guidance and/or support, which is a broad and flexible definition and does not require the person providing the supervision to be physically on site. The Board says that for therapists and hygienists, the supervision requirements could be met through ensuring that a structured professional relationship exists with a dentist who could be consulted as necessary via any means.

Conditions imposed

The National Law requires the Board to publish conditions imposed and undertakings accepted from dental practitioners on the Register. The National Law allows the Board to decide to not record a condition imposed or an undertaking accepted when the practitioner has impairment if it is necessary to protect the practitioner’s privacy and there is not an overriding public interest for the condition or details of the undertaking to be recorded. The Board decided not to routinely publish the details of conditions imposed or undertakings accepted as a result of impairment. However the Board will place the statement that the practitioner has conditions related to their health on the Register.

Proof of identity

People applying for registration for the first time will have to authenticate their identity using a 100-point check, consistent with the Attorney-General’s standard.