Media release

26 May 2014

Board publishes Scope of practice registration standard and guidelines to come in to effect 30 June.

Revised scope of practice registration standard

The Dental Board of Australia’s revised Scope of practice registration standard will come in to effect from 30 June 2014. To help practitioners prepare for the revised standard, the standard and associated guidelines have been published on the Board’s website from today.

All dental practitioners need to familiarise themselves with this information to ensure they meet the Dental Board’s requirements from 30 June.

The standard has been revised to be clearer, improve consumers’ access to oral health services and provide certainty to dental practitioners on the:

• scope of practice for the different dental divisions, and 
• level of education and training expected for each division.

Dental Board of Australia Chair, Dr John Lockwood AM, said all dental practitioners are required to use sound professional judgment to assess their own (and their colleagues’) scope of practice - and only work within their areas of education, training and competence.

‘Each individual dental practitioner is responsible for the decisions, treatment and advice that they provide’ Dr Lockwood said.

The Board is committed to working with the profession over the coming months, to support the implementation of the revised standard and associated guidelines to ensure all dental practitioners are aware of their obligations and responsibilities.

The current registration standard remains in place until 30 June 2014 when the revised standard comes in to effect.

Additional information on the Dental Board website:

• Scope of practice registration standard (effective 30 June 2014) 
• Guidelines - Scope of practice registration standard 
• FAQ on the transition from the current to revised / new documents 

For more information

• Contact us to lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 8708 9001 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

Download a PDF of this Media release - Revised scope of practice registration standard - 26 May 2014 (203 KB,PDF)