Sebastian Evans

Dental professionals want to make mouthguards compulsory for schoolchildren and club players participating in contact sports. Recent studies reveal that between 13% and 39% of all dental injuries are sports-related and about one in four children in the UK will injure – and sometimes lose – a front tooth at some stage. With numbers of…

British patients are not the only ones going elsewhere for cheap dental treatment – Americans are now heading to Mexican border cities for the same reasons. Dentistry in the US has become prohibitively expensive for some patients, with bills that can run to tens of thousands of dollars. US dental treatment costs up to four…

As the development of Adamstown continues, it has been reported that the Health Service Executive (HSE) is planning a new primary care centre that will provide a range of services including dentistry. A non-HSE health provider will also be based at the centre to provide orthodontic and diagnostic services.The centre will be part of Adamstown…

Health Secretary Alan Johnson is to call for fluoride to be added to Britain’s water supplies – and the move has the backing of the British Dental Association (BDA). The announcement is expected tomorrow (Tuesday). The government sees fluoridation as an ‘effective and relatively easy way’ to reduce tooth decay among children. And the BDA…

A dentist who stole almost £140,000 from the NHS has been struck off by the General Dental Council (GDC). Olowashe Olojugba, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, had claimed payment for hundreds of gold crowns he had not provided in a systematic three-year fraud. He was jailed for 18 months in October 2007 after admitting stealing credit…

Amalgam fillings containing mercury pose no health risk to the human nervous system, a European Union scientific committee has claimed. The findings reflect the opinions of some dentists and governments, who have insisted the material is safer and more durable than alternatives. But patients’ organisations have disputed the results, claiming amalgam is dangerous. ‘The facts…

At some point, most dental practice owners will need to determine the value of their practice. Formal valuations are essential for practice sales or purchase – as well as for partnership changes, incorporations, re-financing, tax negotiations, probate or divorce settlements. Inevitably, the nGDS will significantly change the way that UK dental practices are valued. Such…

The new contract for salaried primary care dentists in England comes into force this month. It introduces mandatory annual appraisals, a new pay structure, job planning to support dentists’ career development and a 37.5-hour working week and covers all those who are on national terms and conditions. A single pay spine replaces the existing four-grade…

Ulster has the worst rate of dental decay in Ireland and the UK, despite having the highest number of dentists. Donncha O’Carolan, acting chief dental officer for Northern Ireland, says the problem will only be overcome when people improve their diets and regularly brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste. However, he believes the problem of…

Dental hygienists and dental nurses can take dental radiographs under new regulations. Under the provisions of SI 303 of 2007, dental hygienists and dental nurses who are registered with the Dental Council and who have completed a Council-approved course in radiation protection and technique may take radiographs in the practice of dentistry under the supervision…

Young female smokers are the primary focus of a major new public information campaign launched by the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland (HPA). The new campaign has been developed to raise awareness of the dangerous chemicals in cigarettes and the cumulative damage that every cigarette causes. The campaign also highlights the lesser-known long-term health…

The number of people registered with an NHS dentist in Scotland has increased along with the number of NHS dentists – but more than half of all adults still do not have one. By the end of September 2007, 48.6% of adults were registered with an NHS dentist – up from 46.5% in June. Child…

Dentists are warning parents about giving children soft drinks or fruit juices in their baby bottles over fears about infants needing dental surgery. The warning was prompted after a report found that nearly half of infants under five years in some parts of Ireland have decayed teeth. The Irish Dental Association (IDA) said it is…

The number of patients’ complaints against dentists is on the increase – and high dental fees could be fuelling the rise. The General Dental Council (GDC) dealt with 69 conduct cases against dentists in 2007 and 14 dentists were erased from the register. These figures have been climbing in recent years: • In 2004 there…

A West London dental practice principal and her manager opted for an unusual Christmas break – doing voluntary work with children in a remote village in Rajasthan, India. Sunita and Kavita Verma, from Sparkle Dental Boutique in Hanwell, west London, are more used to dealing with the aesthetics of their patients’ teeth than those of…

The General Dental Council (GDC) is considering a mandatory period of provisional registration for all dentists wanting to join its register. The idea is that, similar to a driving licence, all new dentists should spend a year with a provisional registration prior to achieving full registration once they’ve proved themselves. According to the GDC, this…

The government has abandoned plans to impose a single 18% tax rate on all capital gains – a move that will please many dental practitioners. The change was outlined in October’s pre-Budget report and the tax hike would have badly hit small businesses – hampering dentists selling practices on retirement and the incorporation of dental…

Types of patients come in batches, have you noticed? You have a whole morning of well-trained, delightfully pleasing and uncomplicated patients who leave the surgery, make their recall appointments and then you see them all again, one after the other on the same day! I sometimes wish they could be interspersed with the more complicated,…

It is performance review time in your practice. You are faced with a dilemma that has happened before and you know it is about to happen again. In walks a team member – call her Erin. She has been with your practice for six years. Erin is dependable and does an adequate job. She is…