Dental Tribune UK Edition, October 11-17, 2010, No.25 Vol.4

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You decide Come and take a look at our product range at the BDTA, Booth V08 9OpinionOctober 11-17, 2010United Kingdom Edition O nce again the process of ‘consultation’ has re- sulted in decisions be- ing made in favour of the archi- tects of the consultation process, despite the overwhelming oppo- sition from those that have been consulted. The internet diction- ary definition of a consultation states ‘1. the act and process of consulting’ and ‘2. a conference for discussion or the seeking of advice, esp from doctors or law- yers.’ So clearly it seems that two sides are meant to have a say in the decision making process. Given that this process in- volves two sides putting in time and effort, why is it that, in a time of economic strife, burgeoning regulation, increasing cuts within the public sector and a whole host of unresolved issues with the NHS dental contract, the GDC decide to ‘consult’ with the profession on whether dentists should use the title ‘Dr’? Pressing Issue Can we really say that the most pressing issue facing patients within current day dentistry is not, for example, whether com- plex work may be provided for them under the NHS, but rath- er a peculiar uncertainty as to whether their ‘dentist’ or ‘dental surgeon’ operating out of a den- tal surgery is actually medically trained? Of course I am not advo- cating misleading patients, but at what point do we say ‘enough is enough, let’s all use our com- mon sense’? A packet of peanuts now contains the warning ‘may contain nuts’; do we really need to take dentistry to this stage? According to a survey con- ducted by the BDA, four-fifths of dentists think it is appropriate to continue to use the courtesy ti- tle of ‘Dr’ and, in short, it seems that the profession is happy to leave the status quo untouched. You may conclude that this is really a non starter for the GDC and that things will remain as they are; well, not necessarily so. The GDC has recently pub- lished a draft guidance docu- ment on ‘Principles of Ethical Advertising’ which state ‘Den- tists should not use the courtesy title ‘doctor’ (or the abbreviation ‘Dr’) unless they have a PhD or are a medically qualified and reg- istered doctor. Its use as a cour- tesy title is potentially mislead- ing to patients and it is important that patients do not assume that you have training or competen- cies which you do not possess.’ How far do we go? But exactly how far are we meant to take this? Should those dentists using this title really pay out for redoing their advertisement, let- ter headed papers, etc, etc, etc? Throughout the UK, private and public sector companies are tak- ing active measures to r e d u c e c o s t s a n d i n - crease the efficiency of their busi- ness. Within our profession, most dentists are sick and tired of a constant increase in beaurocracy that places a heavy financial and time burden upon us. Perhaps I am a little harsh on this issue because I have just this week purchased a brass plate for over a hundred pounds and now I may have to buy a new one, but the word on the street is that dentists also face a 31 per cent increase in their An- nual Retention Fee (ARF) in De- cember from £438 to £576; simi- larly, DCPs face a rise of 25 per cent, from £96 to £120, coming into force July 2011. To compare this with our medical colleagues, full registration with the General Medical Council is set at £420 (since 16th of April this year) and registration with the Nurses and Midwifery Council is just £76. This does raise the ques- tion of whether the fat of our £576 fee could be trimmed. If so, perhaps we could start with the consultation over the use of the title ‘Dr’, after all it is a title used by Dental Surgeons in a huge number of countries worldwide without controversy or dispute. My main opposition to this debate is that once again the financial burden will seem to fall upon dentists and from a simply common sense point of view I cannot see how neces- sary or cost effective it is. Does the public really feel that we are second rate profession pre- tending to be doctors? If so, does the public have a sim- ilar feeling towards, let’s say, dermatologists? For, if we are to follow the same trail of thought, the public might expect them to be able to pro- vide open heart surgery - af- ter all they are both doctors. That is clearly not the case. Pretence There are many people out there pretending to be doc- tors who probably should be stopped. One example of many is the staff at the Clinique coun- ter in my local department store, who all wear hospital white jackets, yet I don’t think any member of the public expect them to be able to treat serious skin disorders. What about the claims from numerous alterna- tive health ‘experts’ who claim to treat anything from acne to cancer with the least evidence based backing? In my opinion, whilst many people out there are pretending to be doctors, den- tists are not among them. So let’s stop this constant degra- dation of our profession and exponential rise in costly regu- lations and instead allocate all available funds to letting dentists do what they are trained to do: treat patients. DT Doctor, Doctor… Neel Kothari questions whether the title ‘Dr’ is as misleading as the GDC suggests About the author Neel Kothari qualified as a den- tist from Bristol University Dental School in 2005, and currently works in Cambridge as an associate within the NHS. He has com- pleted a year-long postgraduate certificate in implantol- ogy at UCL’s Eastman Dental Institute, and regularly attends postgraduate courses to keep up-to-date with cur- rent best practice.