The Dental Council, under the Dentists Act 1985, establishes and maintains registers relating to dentistry, namely:
• Register of Dentists
• Register of Dental Specialists
• Register of Hygienists
• Register of Dental Nurses
• Register of Clinical Dental Technicians
The Department’s National Oral Health Policy acknowledged that a key challenge when assessing the future workforce requirements for oral healthcare service provision was the lack of relevant information available including a lack of insight into the characteristics and volume of the services to be provided.
It is useful that the population has access to information about services provided by oral healthcare professionals. This will initially require the creation of a database of workforce and practice services. In future, aligned with policy, the register maintained by the Dental Council would seem to be the best place to capture some of this information. As the implementation of the National Oral Health Policy progresses this process will commence, and the Department will be working with stakeholders including the Dental Council to support this process.
