All prospective entrants to dental school must be screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and TB, according to new guidance from the Council of Heads and Deans of Dental Schools.

The requirements, which will also apply to entrants for dental hygiene and dental therapy courses, state that admission will be conditional on the results of this testing for blood-borne viruses (BBVs).

Dental schools will make clear their expectations with respect to BBV screening on their websites, in their prospectuses and in information supplied to applicants, the guidance states. Ideally these will be consistent across all schools.

The guidance, endorses the recommendations of Department of Health guidance, Health clearance for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, published in March last year.

'The admission of students to dental school should be a transparent process that provides equality of opportunity to all applicants, but the nature of undergraduate training precludes entry of those who may pose a risk of blood-borne infection to patients,' says the latest guidance. 'Many of the clinical procedures in which undergraduate dental students must gain competence are exposure prone procedures.'

Dental deans are responsible for ensuring that only students who have been tested to exclude BBVs are accepted on to undergraduate dental courses and students should not be responsible for meeting the cost of testing, it says. The guidance also states that 'Routine re-screening of newly qualified dentists in the UK will not normally be required if they are graduates of UK dental schools.'

Liz Kay, Dean of Peninsula Dental School, Plymouth, said testing had been common practice in most dental schools for some time. 'But there are cost implications as the schools should pay for the blood tests. It would be sensible for this to be a pooled cost as students do not always attend the school they expect to,' she said.