The General Dental Council (GDC) is the regulatory authority for the dental profession (see Chapter 1) and opened the Register of Dental Professionals in 2006, so all other persons involved in patients` dental care had to be registered with it. Dental assistants joined the registry in 2008 and, along with other registrants such as therapists, hygienists and dental technicians, have become an independent profession. However, registration also comes with professional liability and adherence to professional standards – registrants are now responsible for their own actions and omissions regarding patient care, unless it is proven that their employer knowingly prevented the employee from acting professionally. Most practices use computers to handle the following tasks. Dable et al. found that in their study, 32.62% felt that advertising could be beneficial because it helps with communication. Only 26.9% thought advertising could be dangerous. Nearly 83.68% of dentists strongly rejected advertisements such as “Get teeth in a day and painless dentistry,” which were considered unscientific and misleading. In a retrospective study by Pacheco on ethical proceedings against the dentist in Espirito Santo for violation of the code of dental ethics.
It showed that of the 529 cases examined, 39.7 per cent concerned illegal advertising. The code allows advertising for the inauguration of a hospital, the relocation of the hospital and the facilities available in a hospital, but the advertisement must have a prescribed format and size. No one pays attention to this code these days. An escape route is also found for advertising issued by supporters. [35,36] The knowledge and understanding needed to promote oral health and well-being comes from a number of sources. The General Chamber of Dentists recognizes 13 specialties, including dental public health. Dental public health (HPD) is a non-clinical specialty of dentistry, also known as community dentistry. Activities include assessing the dental health needs and improving the dental health of populations, not individuals. This work is carried out through epidemiological studies and analyses of models, causes and effects of health and disease in defined populations. These findings are used to shape policy decisions and evidence-based practices by identifying disease risk factors and targets for health care. The areas of essential standards that are particularly relevant for the potential dental assistant are as follows.
Some may be surprised that registrants maintain a high standard of conduct not only in the workplace, but also at work. So it`s not acceptable to be considered “pillars of society” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and then get drunk and be messy or antisocial when you go out with friends at night, for example. Clinical records consist of past and present appointment and day books, as well as records of each patient visiting the practice, and contain information specific to the provision of oral care to that patient. This includes medical history, dental history, current oral health status (including records), treatment received on each date, then estimated required costs, consent, and account records. The relevance of the different areas of information to be covered is explained below. It is in the interest of the profession to show that the entire team knows high standards of care in accordance with legal and ethical standards and works in compliance with these standards. This means that regular CPD training and updates should take place as well as consideration of practical ways to ensure that the entire team is informed of the practical applications of their learning. The team should consider any policy updates required to meet the ethical requirements covered in this course. After the initial registration, the dental assistant must meet the following criteria to ensure their annual re-registration and therefore be legally authorised to work as a dental assistant in the UK. The top ten ethical challenges listed by the panelists are inadequate sterilization and waste management in dental clinics, poor knowledge and attitude to ethics among our dentists, competence of dentists, rising cost of oral health services, poor consent process, demand for consensus on treatment procedures at dentists, conflicts in advertising, the grouping of dental clinics in urban areas, disagreement with the modalities of treatment at the dentist and the patient, poor processing of medical records at our dentists.
Adequate records allow the practice to work with the greatest efficiency for all parties involved and should be retained for at least 11 years after the end of treatment or, in the case of children`s records, until the age of 25. Many difficulties in individual patients can be completely avoided if there are complete records of all attendance in the office, while not wasting time in providing such information to the dentist. Registration and filing systems can vary considerably from procedure to procedure, but regardless of the method used, records must always be accurate, legible, complete and easily accessible.