Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

PUBLISHED IN LONDON February 11-17, 2013 VOL. 7 NO. 3 Refs and schools warned on GAA mouthguard rule Referees have been warned to be extra vigilant about under- ageplayersnotwearingmouth- guards after several college footballers were photographed playing without them in Mun- ster and Leinster games. Ac- cording to the Irish Examiner, from January 1, all underage players in Ireland from mi- nor level down must wear the protection in football matches. Punishment for a player found not to be wearing one is a cau- tion followed by an ordering off the field if he still does not wear one. The GAA have advised all clubs and schools to buy “bite and boil” gumshields in bulk to ensure no player runs the risk of not having one on the day of a game and being ordered off. Dentists given second chance in Haiti Three years after a devastat- ing earthquake destroyed much of the infrastructure of Haiti’s largest city, including its dental offices, nine dentists are rebuilding their practices and their lives with help from their American colleagues and the American Dental Associa- tion (ADA) fundraising effort Adopt-a-Practice: Rebuilding Dental Offices in Haiti. In re- sponse to the disaster, the ADA and Health Volunteers Over- seas (HVO) launched a fund- raising campaign in July 2010 to help Haitian dentists affected by the earthquake rebuild their practices. Adopt-a-Practice: Re- building Dental Offices in Haiti raised $123,578.76 in donations from dentists and contributors worldwide. Seven dentists have already received new dental of- fice equipment and two more dentists will receive equipment in the coming weeks. Petition launched to save dental practice Residents in Blacon, Chester have launched a petition in a bid to save a dental practice from closure. According to Chester First, the health clinic and dental surgery on Church Way is to be demolished as part of the £18 million redevelop- ment of the area. A new health centre will be built but health chiefs have confirmed the den- tal surgery will not be replaced. They insist the Church Way practice was only at the loca- tion while new premises – now open – was being developed in Volunteer Street. Residents, among them parents with a lack of transport and the elder- ly who have mobility problems, say they are unable to make the alternative journey and are angry and worried they will now face long waiting lists at other dental practices. www.dental-tribune.co.uk Work the World Students provide dental care in Nepal A philosophy of being Joanna Taylor discusses com- munication in the workplace Rita Zamora Impact of social media on your practice News in Brief Practice ManagementSocial Media FeatureNews Soft drinks New tooth decay warning page 2 pages 12-13 pages 14-15pages 10-11 O nly surgeons should provide cosmetic sur- gery and only doc- tors, dentists and nurses who have undertaken appropriate training should provide non- surgical cosmetic treatments such as Botox, recommends new professional standards for cosmetic practice. Currently certain cosmetic treatments can be administered by any- one, anywhere with no medi- cal training. The guidelines state that as standard practice, practition- ers should discuss relevant psychological issues (includ- ing any psychiatric history) with the patient to establish the nature of their body im- age concerns and their rea- sons for seeking treatment. They should not at any point imply that treatment will im- prove a patient’s psychological wellbeing. Aimed at all doctors, den- tists and nurses involved in cos- metic practice, the document entitled Professional Standards for Cosmetic Practice focuses on the behaviour and compe- tencies medical professionals should be expected to demon- strate when providing cosmet- ic procedures. The standards, issued by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), state that financial deals such as time limited discounts should be banned and strin- gent psychological assessment promoted. They lay out the professional duty practitioners have to their patients, includ- ing the need to ensure they have a clear understanding of the risks of the procedure, outlining consequent aftercare and being transparent about costs from the outset. Developed by a work- ing group of key profession- als including surgeons, psy- chiatrists, psychologists and dermatologists, key points in the professional standards in- clude: • Practitioners should not im- ply that patients will feel ‘bet- ter’ or ‘look nicer’, and should instead use unambiguous lan- guage like ‘bigger’ or ‘smaller’ to describe what that patient is trying to change. • All practitioners should con- sider whether they should refer a patient to a clinical psychologist before proceed- ing with further consultations or treatments. Pre-procedure discussions should include the disclosure of relevant psy- chiatric history such as eating disorders and the practitioner should document any signs or symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Psychological factors contributing to the motiva- tion to undergo the procedure and expectations of outcome should also be assessed. • Marketing and advertising must be honest and respon- sible, using only real patient photographs that have not been air brushed or digitally enhanced. • The RCS recommends that only licensed doctors, regis- tered dentists and registered nurses who have undertaken appropriate training should provide any cosmetic treat- ment. • Only those who have qualified as a medical doctor and undertaken post-gradu- ate surgical training should carry out invasive procedures such as breast surgery or liposuction. DT Call to ban non-medics performing cosmetic surgery Royal College of Surgeons calls for new professional standards