The vexed issue of dental laboratory process workers and whether they register with the General Dental Council is still under discussion despite the fact that statutory registration for technicians is due to be introduced later this year.

The GDC has decided unqualified workers, known as process workers or lab assistants, can work in laboratories provided they are supervised by RDTs (Registered Dental Technicians). The GDC believes it can regulate dental technicians effectively in this way.

However, the Gateway group, an umbrella organisation representing all the technicians' organisations including the Dental Technicians Association, the Dental Laboratories Association and the Clinical Dental Technicians Association, wants the GDC to change its policy.

Antony Townsend, chief executive of the GDC, met representatives of the group in January. The meeting was later described by the GDC as positive and it was agreed that the Gateway group would come up with a briefing paper which would go to the GDC's registration committee.

In the briefing paper, Gateway group members will argue that everyone working in dental technology should be registered. They are suggesting that those who are qualified or who have appropriate experience can be registered while those who are not should be in a new trainee category and have seven years in which to qualify.

They believe that if there is a member of the laboratory who is not qualified or in training it creates a loophole which will undermine the whole registration process. They say that under the GDC's plans for laboratories, a large organisation with a high turn-over could have one registered dental technician (RDT) responsible for the work of many process workers.

It is also argued that if a technician is erased from the register he or she will be able to continue working in the industry as a process worker, escaping the full impact of the disciplinary process as it currently affects dentists. By creating a different registration structure for technicians, according to Gateway group members, their transition from an industry to a profession is being impeded.

Chris Allen, chief executive of the Clinical Dental Technicians Association, said that in the past there were many more unqualified than qualified technicians and if that situation was allowed to continue, it would be a nonsense.

‘There is a determination to ensure that within seven years of the register being created, everyone working in dental technology is a registered technician.’

He added: ‘Our interest in this is that RDTs will be able to train as clinical dental technicians. Unless there are high standards in dental technology, it will affect the quality of the trainees who come forward.’

Laboratory owner Steve Mason, who employs three qualified technicians in his own lab, commented: ‘This is flying in the face of what everyone wants. There are labs which have a production line and use one person for each stage of the process. Nevertheless, each stage is important and being a technician is a skilled job. The whole process is being devalued.’

If the Gateway group do not manage to persuade the General Dental Council to reverse its decision, it is likely that they will turn their attention to lobbying the Government.