Frozen out
While the General Dental Council still seeks to track down those practising dentistry illegally in the UK it seems that in the United States it falls to the police to ‘protect the public’ against illegal operators. A recent case from Virginia came to light when a patient alerted the cops to what she thought might be an unlicensed dentist after contracting a post-root canal infection.
The woman had been directed to the ‘practitioner’ by word of mouth and told that it would be much cheaper than from a licensed dentist (which you would think might start alarm bells ringing). A warrant was issued and the officers, being directed to the basement by the aggrieved patient, moved aside a large fridge to reveal the door to the ‘secret office’.
What is slightly curious is that the patient only seemed to be unhappy with this illicit treatment after the event. Surely moving aside a household appliance to get into a surgery must have raised some suspicions? In the UK she might have been confused by stories about difficulty getting treatment, but I think having to move a fridge is taking preventing access to care a step too far.
CPD down under
Our Australian cousins have long chided us poms for ‘living to work’ rather than adopting their attitude of ‘working to live’. But with all those wonderful blue skies, sandy beaches and walkabout outback trails who can really blame them?
A bit of a shock then for our dental colleagues who, from the beginning of next month, are going to have to undertake mandatory CPD as decreed by the newly formed Dental Board of Australia (for which read GDC). Except, the life philosophy has obviously seeped into the legislature down under as the requirement is 60 hours over a three year period, compared with our 250 hours over a five year period. I’m thinking of writing a letter of complaint but I’m just too busy working…
Oh please!
I wonder what we should we make of the Scottish Dental Clinic Effectiveness Programme which warns that children could be left with long-term psychological problems if dentists do not encourage them to adopt relaxing breathing techniques during checkups? Seems fairly innocuous I guess until, in the 120 page document, we get to the advice to adopt behavioural management techniques including, ‘show them the syringe, emphasising how fine the needle is (like a cat’s whisker), and that only a tiny part of it will go into their gum’, and nicknaming drills ‘Mr Whizzy’ to make them appear less threatening. I am not entirely convinced that any child, let alone one north of the border, is going to stick around long enough to find out what a cat’s whisker feels like even in a tiny way into their gum or give Mr Whizzy the opportunity to get anywhere near their teeth. Mr Bonkers.
The winner of the April prize of Beverly Hills Formula products is Hanish Chotai of Leicester for the caption: ‘Its the all new inflatable chair sir, you can take it anywhere the PCT wants you to go!’