The scandal of patients left in the lurch and dentists left unpaid following the liquidation of Finest Dental continues to grow. GDPUK has monitored an increasing number of reports from those involved which raise serious issues that should concern the General Dental Council, who have a statutory obligation to both regulate the profession and protect patients.
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NHS England has recently published standard operating procedures for COVID-19 in primary dental care settings. This lays down the procedures to be carried out if a patient is suspected of having the virus. The BDA has also issued advice to its members on procedures to be adopted.
Read more: Updated advice for dental practices on treatment of patients with COVID-19 issued
The BDA has applauded swift action from government and the dental industry to unlock stocks of face masks to ease the mounting supply problems facing UK dental services. BDA Chair Mick Armstrong said: "The clock was ticking on this face mask shortage, and dentists and patients will applaud decisive action from the industry and government.”
A Welsh Government programme which helps improve the oral health of older people living in care homes has had its yearly funding doubled to half a million pounds. This will enable the programme to be offered to all care homes in Wales from 2020/21.
Read more: Funding doubled for older people’s oral health programme in Wales
The BDA has welcomed the GDC’s call for evidence on the risk presented by remote orthodontic providers, such as SmileDirectClub, and urged the regulator to engage with the growing weight of evidence emerging overseas. The GDC has said they are ‘aware’ of a number of organisations offering services remotely which could constitute dentistry as defined in law, including the growth in ‘direct-to-consumer orthodontics’.
An Australian court has ordered Google to identify the person behind an anonymous bad review of a dentist. Dr Matthew Kabbabe, a teeth-whitening specialist in Melbourne, sought the order so he could sue for defamation. He claimed user CBsm 23 had damaged his business by telling others to "STAY AWAY".
Read more: Australian dentist wins case to find name of bad review author
The Queen was formally opening the Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals when she told Ilia Aristovich, 10 who was having orthodontic treatment, that she had ‘had braces’, a very long time ago. “I think it’s worth it, in the end,” she said. Her Majesty saw first-hand the work being carried out across the facility’s specialties, visiting the adult dental treatment floor, the paediatric treatment floor and the auditory implant centre.
An NBC News investigation into a growing list of complaints about SmileDirectClub, the largest at-home dental alignment company, and others found that this new trend in straightening teeth is leading to painful problems for some people. The Better Business Bureau reports more than 1,800 complaints across the USA involving SmileDirectClub.
Read more: NBC News investigates complaints about at-home dental aligners
NHS England is signalling strongly that community water fluoridation is the optimum intervention to improve the oral health of children and tackle health inequality among disadvantaged communities. The new impetus is fully supported by the Community Water Fluoridation (CWF) network, which is pressing for targeted water fluoridation in areas of high need.
Read more: Impetus from on high for community water fluoridation