Dental Therapists, anyone?

Remember how nervous you were during primary school when dental nurses came into your classroom, hoping that your name would not be in their list? Guess what? they will be back in your life, not in schools but probably in your private dental practices. According to the soon to be approved Dental Act 2012, dental therapists will be allowed to treat patients less than 18 years old under the supervision of a dentist, in private general dental practices. Who are these dental therapists?  Just a new label on dental nurses that spilled over from the public sector.

Read the link below:
http://ohd.moh.gov.my/modules/xt_conteudo/index.php?id=99

Dental nurse training was established in 1948 to overcome shortage of dentists then. We definitely have enough dentists now, considering there are already fourteen dental schools in Malaysia to date. The Dental Training College in Penang is the only college that supplies these dental nurses to the public sector, however, the supply for these nurses has exceeded its demand.

So, the next time you step into your dental office, the person who will be fixing your teeth may not be a dentist, who has spent at least four years in his or her life receiving proper training in dentistry. I have nothing against dental therapists as long as they practice within their scope. In fact, they complement the work of dentists. Once the law has passed, the standard of private dental care may deteriorate if it is not regulated properly. Who will check whether dental therapists are treating teenagers and children and not adults in private clinics? And how are dentists going to supervise the work of these therapists? Will patients be informed that  they are treated by therapists or will they just assumed that they are under the care of a dentist until something goes wrong? If there is a demand for dental therapists in private dental healthcare, will there be more of them being trained in future?

I'll leave it to you to ponder.