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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

PUBLISHED IN LONDON July 2014 VOL. 8 NO 7 Hygienist raises £20,000 for mouth cancer charity Dental hygienist Christina Chatfield has raised almost £20,000 for Mouth Cancer Action by walking 500 miles from Kirriemuir in Scotland, to Brighton, with more than 300 people joining the walk on various legs of the route. Christina said: “I was joined by a mouth cancer sufferer and her children along the route, which was all the moti- vation I needed. The support along the route was incred- ible. I remember bumping into two ramblers, and they hadn’t heard of mouth can- cer. They donated £10 of their weekly pension allowance to me, and it was moments like that which kept me going.” New York dentists offer free wine to patients Dentists in Manhattan have been offering patients glass- es of wine while they wait for their dental treatment to ‘take the edge off’. Accord- ing to DNAinfo New York, there are a number of prac- tices around the city that of- fer patients wine before ap- pointments. One patient said: “It’s an extra something that helps you dread the dentist a little less. I don’t know why more places don’t do it, quite frankly. The wine helps take the edge off.” Dr David Ja- nash of Park South Dentistry, which offers wine, said: “We offer the beverages as part of our efforts to create a wel- coming, boutique, spa-like environment and make pa- tients more comfortable.” Shopper finds tooth in Sainsbury’s cheese Health experts have launched an investigation into claims that a shopper found a tooth in a piece of Wensleydale Jervaulx Blueat purchased at Sainsbury’s. According to the Mirror, Jane Betts, who had bought the cheese from a Cambridge branch of the store, was chewing on the piece of cheese when she felt the tooth in her mouth. She took the tooth to her dentist, who confirmed it belonged to somebody else. Doctors remove 232 teeth Doctors at the JJ hospital in Byculla removed 232 teeth from a teenager. Ashik Ga- vai (17) had a swelling on the right side of the mouth when he came to the hospital in June. The doctors found that it was a rare abnormal growth affecting the second molar on the lower right side of his jaw, which contained 232 small teeth. The surgery lasted seven hours. www.dental-tribune.co.uk Maestro Scanner system Terence Whitty discusses the Maestro 3D Dental Scanner Change of control clause? Don’t panic! Says Thomas Coates Ivoclar Vivadent Monolithic restorations in London News in Brief ClinicalEvent Review CAD/CAM TribuneNews McDonald’s Dentist tried to perform treatment in fast food chain page 3 pages 14-15 page 19-20page 10 T he General Dental Council (GDC) has caused outrage among dental professionals this July with a proposed 64 per cent hike in Annual Retention Fees (ARF), followed by an advert placed in the Telegraph days later, adver- tising the Dental Complaints Service (DCS). The advert re- portedly cost £60,000. The GDC has said that the increase to the ARF is needed to cover the rising number of complaints against registrants. The proposal which would see the ARF for dentists increase to £945 a year and for DCPs to £128; a 64 per cent and 6.7 per cent increase respectively. The announcement has since had a lot of backlash on social media, with one Twitter user tweeting “Fewer job pros- pects, less earning potential, in- creased retirement age and now higher ARFs” while another said “£945 #GDC ARF is prohibitive for early career dentists who are already struggling with other fees and student debt.” An e-petition has also been released, asking the govern- ment to review the fee increase. At the time of writing, the peti- tion has gained 13,583 signa- tures. Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association’s Principal Executive Commit- tee, said the increase in fees is ‘unacceptable’, especially as the latest Professional Standards Authority (PSA) report on the GDC was highly critical of the regulator. He said: “The suggestion that the profession pay more to fund a Council that has been shown unable to do its job properly is frankly astonishing. The rise would be unpalatable at the best of times but now it appears that the profession is being asked to foot the bill for failure.” Dr Armstrong added: “It’s not just huge rise in fees that has left the dental profession aghast, but, when dentists are expected to tolerate poor per- formance by the very body that is charged with the duty to as- sess their fitness to practise, we are justifiably outraged.” The BDA has even called on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to initiate an urgent investiga- tion into the competence of the GDC. Approximately a week later, dental professionals were out- raged yet again by the regulator when a full-page colour advert appeared in the Telegraph. The advert was placed by the GDC, advertising the DCS. The cost of adverts of this type in the Telegraph reportedly cost £60,000. This advert is seen by the profession as the regulator twisting the knife, with one Twit- ter user saying: “GDC ‘forced’ to raise dentists’ fee to manage complaints but found encourag- ing dental complaints”, and an- other saying: “They’ve honestly made me feel like chucking the towel in. Even our professional body is against us”. The GDC has denied that the advert cost £60,000, stating in a press release that it cost £5,500. DT GDC in firing line The General Dental Council’s actions this month have caused outrage among the profession 10%OFF 10%OFF 10%OFF A L L H A N D P I E C E REPAIRS Q U OTEMAG 1 4 Don’t let your handpieces fail.... 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