The British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT) and the British Association of Dental Therapists (BADT) have united to apply for prescribing exemptions that would broaden dental hygienists' and dental therapists' scope of practice for the benefit of their patients.

Driven by respective immediate past presidents – Michaela O'Neill and Fiona Sandom – the societies were recently given the green light by the Department of Health to move into the next stage of the campaign.

BSDHT and BADT are asking dental hygienists and therapists whether they have had to send patients away with incomplete or no treatment because they couldn't get a prescription when they needed it; how such occasions affected their ability to deliver patient care; and what it would mean to the dental hygienists and therapists to provide certain prescription-only medicines without requiring a prescription from the dentist. The societies are collecting case examples to support their cause and hope that by working together they can drive change.

www.bsdht.org.uk