DTETAB anniversary

On September 29th the Dental Technicians and Training Advisory Board (DTETAB) held a reception at the Royal College of Physicians, London to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Left to right: Tony Griffin — Chairman of DTETAB, Emma Linton — DTETAB Student of the Year, Dame Margaret Seward — President.

Dame Margaret Seward, former Chairman of DTETAB, addressed the audience making reference to the major changes in the past 10 years and how the future is unfolding for dental technicians and other Professionals Complementary to Dentistry (PCDs).

Following her address, she presented the 1999 DTETAB Student Award to Emma Linton from People's College and an Accreditation Certificate to South London College for completing the DTETAB Self Assessment criteria.

Women in Dentistry

Women in Dentistry has joined the list of organisations, which includes the BDA, BMA, and many others in the health field, in formally endorsing the new national policy on smoking cessation. At their recent AGM they adopted the policy unanimously, citing many areas of especial concern to women such as: the health of pregnant women and children being at risk from smoking and that women in poorer families may smoke but be less well reached by health messages.

It was also revealed at the meeting that the Women in Dentistry Millennium Fund Appeal, to establish a special reserve, had exceeded the target and raised £5,263.

Success for surgical dentistry candidates

The first sitting of the new Specialty Membership Examination in Surgical Dentistry (M.Surg.Dent) was held at the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 29 September 1999.The examiners and the first five successful candidates are back row left to right: Dr M Escudier, Mr J Lowry, Dr N Girdler, Professor D McGowan, Professor K Moos.

BDHF speak out

The British Dental Health Foundation has criticised a television advertisement for promoting a negative image of dentistry and has called for its withdrawal.

The advertisement, for the new Sony Playstation game Dino Crisis, features a sequence of a dentist approaching a terrified patient with a syringe and then a drill. As the dentist takes the syringe out of the mouth, the advertisement shows a brightly coloured drop of blood on the end of the needle and a voiceover says that dinosaurs can smell blood from two miles away.

The BDHF has asked the ITC to ban the advertisement as they say it reinforces an unjustified image of dentists as frightening figures and is also aimed at a young audience.

The BDHF claims that the advertisement appears to contravene the ITC's code of standards and practice which states that an advertisement cannot use fear without justification.

Eastman Professor

Professor Maurizio Tonetti has recently joined the Eastman/University College London as the Professor and Head of the Department of Periodontology.

Professor Tonetti is widely recognised for his expertise in advanced periodontal therapy, reconstructive surgery, periodontal plastic surgery, and microsurgery.

Orthodontics via video

The first UK demonstration of on-line remote treatment planning in orthodontics via a videoconference link was presented before a capacity audience of 300 who were attending the Liverpool University Dental School Centenary Meeting 'clinical practice into the next millennium' held on Friday 17th September. Records of a patient of Mr Seth Kumordzie, a general dental practitioner in Bristol, were discussed with him at his practice over an ISDN link by Professor Stephens who was addressing the meeting in Liverpool.