The dental profession continues to face increasing litigation. It is the responsibility of all dental professionals to demonstrate a fundamental basic understanding of dental implantology so that this option can be offered to patients even though they may not be in a position to offer the procedure themselves.
Dental professionals have an ethical responsibility to limit their scope of practice to what they are trained and competent to do. Any dental professional who carries out work for which they are not trained and competent puts their registration at risk.
The GDC expects dentists to have received adequate, certified training and possess the correct skills if they are to perform the procedure.
Learning Objectives:
- To be able to implement the Principles from GDC Standards and FGDP
- To understand the team’s responsibility of gaining informed and written consent for implant work
- To be able to implement a system of good clinical record keeping
- To understand the medico-legal implications of implant dentistry, in that they must have an understanding of the basic principles of implantology and offer this as a treatment option via referral even if they do not provide the treatment themselves
- To be aware of GDC Fitness to Practice cases involving implant treatments