Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

December 12-18, 201114 Comment United Kingdom Edition14 For 3D Imaging, please read on... www.velopex.com Call: 020 8965 2913 Email: enquiries@velopex.com let Velopex Lead You into the Digital Future... Proud of our 50 Years in Quality Imaging, DTo3ds27.04.11rpc U nfortunately, despite the best of efforts, the government re- ally have not gone far enough when it comes to rules and regulations within the indus- try. The slight inconvenience HTM01-05 and the CQC have placed upon practices is clear- ly a step in the right direction, but the question I ask is: have they gone far enough? Here is a list of potential policies that we need to en- courage the government to ur- gently address. To start off with, we des- perately need to risk assess the feasibility of having windows in our surgeries. The risk that fresh air poses to our patients (and us) really cannot be un- derestimated. How would you feel if you were treated in a room and someone outside had an illness and bacteria came in through the window without any form of filtration? In the future we really need to ask the government if they can help us by providing some sort of guidance and hopefully also organising companies with vested interests (in helping patients) to supply and install ‘sterile’ air filtration systems, all to the required regulations. If we look at the disinfec- tion of surfaces I think it has now been clearly proven be- yond all reasonable doubt that soap and water is not ad- equate and thankfully many companies have come the to the rescue of patients by pro- viding disinfectants capable of thoroughly disinfecting surfaces. However in the fu- ture we have to ask ourselves is this enough? I think the reality here is that, despite worktops being around for a long while, we now have to question whether or not they are actually safe and if there is a place for them in the future. Another area that the gov- ernment desperately needs to look at is the risks presented to patients and staff by pieces of equipment such as the den- tal probe. This piece of equip- ment was clearly designed before health and safety be- came a legal requirement and I cannot foresee a situa- tion where its usage can con- tinue without some form of rubber bung. Ideally this rub- ber bung should be available on a single use basis and hope- fully should cost less than a mere 50 pence per bung from government approved compli- ant manufacturers. Dentistry of the future sure- ly must also consider the risks posed to patients through the usage of non single use cloth- ing. Suggesting that dentists must change their apparel in between patients may sound extreme, but in reality what other alternatives do we have? Also most clothing manufac- turers really do not provide undergarments designed spe- cifically for dental needs and, whilst many of us really do not want to discuss the risks posed by undergarments, hopefully companies with vested inter- ests (in protecting patients) will be able to provide govern- ment compliant steam sterilis- able underwear, but I suspect that the regulations would state that this would only need to be changed on a daily basis rather than in between pa- tients. Hopefully there will be some scope to allow dentists to make their own judgment calls if the patient is sufficient- ly scary. Again another sensitive area that will almost certainly need addressing is excessive body hair. The risks posed to patients through excessive body hair are far too long to be fully itemised here, but it would be fair to say that bac- teria and other micro organ- isms can live in and around hair follicles. In an attempt to achieve a degree of political correctness, excessive body hair may have to be classified under two main categories 1 hair above the neckline and 2hair below the neckline. A simple policy of quarterly government approved inspec- tions carried out by tax payer funded companies should ensure compliance with this policy. Of course, in order to protect patients, a naming and shaming policy would need to be enforced for those in breach of either category. Whilst many of you may think that this policy is com- pletely unnecessary, please be aware that as a British Asian my people stand to suffer the most. Hopefully by the time this policy is actually imple- mented many of the dental manufacturers would also be in a position to offer a full range of hair removal services with a minimal of interruption to the dentist’s daily working life with most probably only needing to take as little as a week off work. By now I bet many of you are in eager anticipation, won- dering when these changes are likely to take place. I sus- pect it will probably take a few years before these policies are implemented; however one thing that we all have to accept is that we really can- not afford to take the risk of waiting for any of these poli- cies to be vigorously piloted or sent to an independent body for review, as that may take months, if not years. By doing this it would also open us up to a whole set of problems - I mean what would we do if they get back to us with results that don’t support our position? As a dental fundamentalist and in line with CQC outcome 1, I cannot allow myself to of- fend you all by wishing you all a Merry Christmas. So please accept my sincere wishes that you enjoy the government endorsed bank holidays around the 25th and 26th of December and the 1st of Janu- ary, which is internationally recognised as ‘New Year’ for many cultures. DT Dental fundamentalism Neel Kothari takes an ironic look at dental regulations, and looks at issues such as windows and breathing About the author Neel Kothari qualified as a den- tist from Bristol University Dental School in 2005, and currently works in Sawston, Cam- bridge as a princi- pal dentist at High Street Dental Prac- tice. He has completed a year-long postgraduate certificate in implantol- ogy and is currently undertaking the Diploma in Implantology at UCL’s Eastman Dental Institute. Dentists’s desperately need to risk assess the feasibility of having windows in their surgeries ‘The risk that fresh air poses to our patients (and us) really cannot be underestimated’