KL Gerakan seeks changes to Dental Bill 2012

Kuala Lumpur Gerakan division leaders are calling for changes to the soon to be tabled Dental Bill 2012, including removing the jail sentence for dentists performing procedures not in their specialty.

They told a press conference at their division headquarters today that they would send their recommendations to Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai and all MPs before the bill is tabled in parliament.

“There is not even one dentist amongst the members of parliament, so we will list out which sections (need changes) and let them read through it,” said Kuala Lumpur Gerakan division secretary Wong Ruen Yuan (right), who is a dentist by profession.

The bill is due to be tabled in the upcoming parliamentary session which starts next week, and would replace the Dental Act 1971.

Among the proposed changes include:

• Maintaining the status quo of allowing general dental practitioners (GP) to perform any procedure that they are comfortable with instead of limiting certain procedures to specialists.

Under the proposed Bill, a non-specialist of a procedure can be punishable by a RM10,000 fine, or a jail term not exceeding two years, or both, for practicing it.

• Establishing guidelines for the dental registrar to decide whether a person is fit to be registered as a dentist, in order to curtail the registrar’s otherwise arbitrary powers.

• Banning beauty salons from providing dental procedures such as teeth whitening.

• Stipulating that a dental therapist may only practice in the presence of a dentist. (A dental therapist is a diploma-holding dental practitioner who may perform minor procedures on persons 18 years old and below.)

• Improving the representation of private sector dentists and dentists from Sabah and Sarawak in the Malaysian Dental Council. 
  
  Under the Bill, there are seven private sector dentists and one dentist each from Sabah and Sarawak in the 24-member council.

Scope of specialist’s field not defined

Elaborating on the first point, Kuala Lumpur Gerakan Public Health Bureau chairperson Khoo Kay Wai (left) said, “the Malaysian public has been well-served by the GP. They have adequate experience, they have performed a lot of procedures without any complications or major complaints.

“I would say that some experienced GPs could be more qualified than a newly graduated dental specialist.. Why should we limit their power now?” he asked.

He added that the Bill, written without consulting GPs, does not define what constitutes a specialist’s field.

Khoo said a specialist’s field could include paediatrics, which would exclude GPs from providing dental care to children.

In addition, in the case of oral surgery, he said it could vary from a simple tooth extraction to treating a car accident victim.

With only 4,200 dentists, of whom less than 10 percent are specialists, serving a population of 28 million, Dr Khoo said there are not enough specialists in the country.

In addition, a specialist’s fee would be about three times higher than a GPs'.

Under the status quo and the common practice of other countries, Khoo said a GP would refer a patient to a specialist if the latter’s case is deemed beyond his knowledge to treat, whereas a specialists would refer minor cases to a GP.

“We hope specialists would do the difficult cases. Subsequent (follow-ups) and general cases, even a GP can do it... This is the proper way that should be implemented and practiced,” he said.