be down to every member of the

team. We need to build on the

success shown already and I was

excited to see the fantastic results

from the customer feedback ques-

tionnaires which showed over

18,000 compliments last year. We

are looking to build further on this

success, and training has already

commenced for practice teams

covering the patient experience.

Clinical Road shows

This was the first time the senior

board have held regional events

and see this as a start of the part-

nership agreement where clini-

cians can hear the key messages

of driving the business forward,

whilst senior management listen

to invaluable feedback on the

areas we need to invest time and

money to provide the world lead-

ing quality health care business

we aspire to become.

In total 10 regional events were

organised over a 2 week period

with Richard Smith (CEO), Steve

Williams (Clinical Services Direc-

tor), Dawn Farrell (Director of

Operations) and Cliff Davies

(Clinical Director) all presenting.

The events were also attended by

regional teams, head office staff

and the rest of the board all gain-

ing valuable feedback for the rest

of their teams. There was a fantas-

tic turn out with over 500 dentists,

specialists, therapists, hygienists

and clinical dental technicians

attending. The enthusiasm and

passion shown emphasises the

quality of people we have work-

ing within IDH.

Steve Williams

Welcome to the latest clinical update.

It is interesting times within dentistry

as a whole as we face a number of

challenges and press interest regard-

ing the profession. I wanted to update

you regarding some of the stories and

what we are doing as a company to

address the issues raised;

The long awaited OFT report regard-

ing dentistry was published. Despite

their findings recognising that patients

are largely satisfied with the services

provided by dentists and according to

World Health Organisation, the UK is

considered to have one of the highest

standards of oral health in the world,

the press highlighted the negatives

from the report. One area IDH were in

agreement with the OFT, was that

there should be improved price trans-

parency and choice for patients cover-

ing both NHS and private treatments

and I am pleased that we now have

displayed updated private price lists

alongside NHS charges in all practic-

es where appropriate.

In May we saw NHS protect releasing

the headlines that NHS dental fraud

was estimated at £73M. Although the

figures reported were extrapolated

from a small base and some of the

assumptions could be challenged, it

does highlight the renewed focus the

PCTs are adopting regarding claiming

activity and the necessity to balance

their books. The PCTs are currently

under pressure to demonstrate value

for money as their positions are under

threat during the current restructuring

plan where they will reduce to 27

local offices and move towards the

commissioning board structure in

April 2013.

We have seen some local challenges

from PCTs regarding claiming activi-

ty and continue to help individual

dentists defend this where appropri-

ate. The key to successful defence as

always has been acting in the pa-

tient’s best interest and the quality of

the record keeping. In addition, as a

company, we have developed the

individual claiming reports which has

recently been launched across the

business and this will help you man-

age areas that you need to act on.

Access to the reports are from the

clinical app see page 5 for details.

The economy as a whole never seems

to be out of the news recently. The

wave of euphoria surrounding the

Olympics was a welcome rest bite

and let’s hope this continues into the

rest of the year. There have been

differing stories of dental practices

being affected and both NHS and

private practices have stories relating

to increased costs and lower turnover.

The key to success appears to be

good patient care and the offering to

the patient. No longer can we rely on

a NHS banner being enough to fill

surgeries. Everything we do has to be

centred around great patient care

from the moment a patient first con-

tacts the practice and the success will

News

Integrated Dental Holdings

October 2012 Volume1, Issue 2

Clinical Newsletter

Whitening becomes

legal

Clinical Info app is

available

IDH Academy to

open in April 2013

Bunsen Burners

allowed in IDH

Inside this issue:

IDH Dental Academy 2

HTM 01-05 Training Days

Bunsen Burner Update

3

Antibiotic prescription

4

IDH Clinical Info App 5

Sharps injury prevention 6

IDH Compliance Managers

Prescribing Reports

Eastman CPD reports

7

New Dental Contract Pilots 8

Labs update

Peer review groups

9

Private Dentistry 10

Materials update 11

Whitening 12

Please visit http://

idhgroup.co.uk/

feedback to give

feedback and

suggestions.

At IDH we are very excited about

the launch of our new academy in

spring 2013. Our opening has been slightly delayed by problems with the

electricity supply to the building.

Over recent years IDH has grown

rapidly and we feel very strongly that

the competence and engagement of our dental teams is absolutely vital to

our successful and continued growth.

Our vision for the academy is to”

deliver world class training for all

IDH staff and external delegates, showing commitment to our staff and

deliver high quality dental care”.

We need to deliver the best quality

treatment for our patients and to do

this we need to train our clinicians to deliver all treatment options. This has

been a key driving force behind the

academy concept and will give our clinicians access to excellent training

facilities and courses.

Through the academy we can deliver

training for the whole dental team

ensuring that we attract and retain the best clinicians and staff to work in

IDH practices.

Lecture rooms, seminar rooms, de-

contamination training facilities,

radiography training facilities, phan-

tom head room, and Audio Visual facilities will all be available along

with dental surgeries equipped to

allow patients to be treated on

courses.

We will provide all forms of train-ing from web based learning to

nurse training to cosmetic and ad-

vanced restorative dentistry.

In addition the academy will house a

state of the art dental practice that

provides both NHS and Private dental care.

Based in Manchester City Centre, it

is central and easily accessible via

all modes of transport from most

areas of the UK.

We very much look forward to

spring 2013 when we launch..

IDH Academy news

Page 2

Clinical Newsletter

IDH Academy will

be in central

Manchester.

Opening Spring

2013.

Facilities include a

Phantom Head

Room

Lecture Rooms

Seminar Rooms

Dental Surgeries

If you would like more information or may be interested in using

our facilities please feel free to contact Lisa Ward via email at hlward@idhgroup.co.uk

Page 3

Volume1, Issue 2

Practice teams will

be able to access

an IDH online

CPD course on

decontamination

which will provide

verifiable CPD

HTM 0105 Regional Training Days

Regional Training days to stand-

ardise practice decontamination

protocols and procedures have started with two days in the North

West Region. This will be repeat-

ed around all regions during October and November.

The aim of each training day is to establish a common standard in

all IDH Practices in line with the

requirements of all external regu-lating bodies.

The CQC requires practices to have a decontamination lead,

trained to a higher level, and

based in the Practice. All practic-es have appointed an infection

control lead and the training days

have been aimed at training the decontamination leads in and the

PMs .

The message of the day is that

decontamination is everyone’s

responsibility and requires a team approach which must include

nursing staff and clinicians.

The days are run on a workshop

based structure, not “death by

PowerPoint”. The aim is to make

the day as interactive and interesting as

possible, with smaller groups attending

each workshop in rotation.

Our Training providers Henry Schein,

Dentisan, IDH Compliance Managers and Isopharm Sentry, have worked

hard to deliver an informative, interac-

tive hour long session to standardise guidance and to clear up any ambiguity

created by local advice.

Each decontamination lead will be

expected to deliver training to their

practice teams, supported by the prac-tice manager and the compliance man-

ager. Training videos and presentations

have been developed to help in this training.

All practices will have received their in practice training by January 2013 and

then practice teams will be able to

access an IDH online CPD course on decontamination which will provide

verifiable CPD.

Practices have been issued with log

books for each piece of equipment to

record the validation cycles. This will help us work toward consistency and a

standard approach across our practices

The CQC are focussing on decon-

tamination as an important area of

compliance when inspecting prac-tices. Feedback from recent inspec-

tions suggests that compliance with

the following standards is key:

1. Practices must be working

to HTM 01-05 essential standards

2. Annual and quarterly

auditing of decontamina-tion processes must be

documented. The IPS

toolkit is the recommended audit toolkit

3. Instruments must be stored

correctly and a system in place to ensure that recom-

mended use by dates are

not exceeded 4. Decontamination processes

must be validated and

recorded correctly 5. Staff must be able to

demonstrate knowledge of

an effective process from dirty to clean when pro-

cessing instruments

It is vital that we all work together

to deliver effective decontamination

in practice. Clinicians must work with practice teams to ensure stand-

ards are maintained and improved.

The Clinical team is very pleased to

announce that a new Risk Assess-

ment has been agreed which allows

for the use of Bunsen Burners in

our surgeries.

The South West clinical panel

reported the fact that the safe air

heaters were often not effective. We have worked with the panel to

introduce a new Bunsen Burner

which has proved to be clinically effective.

To use a Bunsen Burner you must:

Review and sign the risk assessment

Replace any non compliant Bunsen Burners

Ensure that the requirements in the risk assessment

are followed

Ensure that all members of the team using Bunsen

Burners do so in a safe manner.

Bunsen Burners

A case of Clostridium Difficile has

been reported from a patient attend-

ing an IDH practice in the Somerset

PCT area.

Investigation of the cause of the C.Diff has been laid at the inappro-

priate prescribing of Clindamycin

after the surgical removal of a lower 3rd molar.

C.Diff infection causes acute diar-

rhoea and can be fatal.

This highlights the importance of

appropriate antibiotic prescription in dentistry.

Dentists prescribe 10% of all antibi-otics in the UK.

Antimicrobials should ONLY ever be used as an adjunct to the manage-

ment of acute or chronic infection

and never in isolation except in specific exceptional cases (e.g.

acute necrotising ulcerative

gingivitis or where inability to

establish drainage in an unco-operative patient who requires

sedation or GA for treatment).

There is NO indication for

prescribing antimicrobials for

acute pulpitis

Antibiotic prescribing - A case of Clostridium Difficile

Page 4

Clinical Newsletter

10% of all

antibiotic

prescriptions in

UK are given

by dentists

A case of

Clostridium

Difficile has

been attributed

to inappropraite

prescription of

Clindamycin.

When antibiotics are indicated what should we be prescribing?

First choice: Amoxicillin (Penicillin) in a typical adult dose of 250mg three times a day for

up to 5 days is the preferred drug of choice for oral infections due to its broad spectrum and

tolerance.

Second choice: Metronidazole 200mgs three times a day for three days is very useful, espe-

cially against facultative anaerobes. N.B interacts with alcohol. Can be usefully used in com-

bination with penicillin in cases of severe spreading infections or if allergic to penicillin or

last penicillin dose within 30 days.

Third choice: Erythromycin 250mg four times a day for up to 5 days if allergic to penicillin

or last dose within 30 days, but more problems with resistance and tolerance (Azithromycin

may be preferred) such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Resistance rates are high.

Clindamycin is not recommended for routine management of dentoalveolar infections

The use of other antibiotics such as cephalosporins or co-amoxiclav offer NO advantage over

penicillin, metronidazole or erythromycin.

The inappropriate use of clindamycin, cephalosporins or co-amoxiclav will contribute to the

development of resistance to these drugs and can lead to the development of Clostridium dif-

ficile infection (antibiotic induced colitis), which can be fatal.

Tetracyclines have limited use in dentistry except in periodontal disease. They should ideally

be used by or under the supervision of a specialist

For prescribing advice use your copy of the BNF and the

electronic version at www.bnf.org

The Clinical Info app is

now available to down-

load.

The app runs on your

computer desktop and

gives access to:

Your individual

prescribing report

A running total of

UDA delivery

Reminder if you

have not made clin-

ical notes for one

of your patients

A news screen

IDH Clinical Info app

How to install

Log onto Clarity…. Type idhweb into your internet

explorer

Follow the link to install

Page 5

Volume1, Issue 2

The Clinical

Info app is

now

available to

install.

Full instructions on how to install the ClinicalInfo app are on the Weekly Bulletin sent to your Practice

Manager.

Practices using SOE will be able to access the app when their systems have been updated to R4,

Sharps injuries—do we have a problem?

Richard Ablett

Introducing the Dental Team Support Manager (DTSM)

Lisa Bird

of sharp injuries are happening to our

DCPs compared to our dentists.

We must reduce the overall numbers

of sharps injuries by working together

to improve sharps handling in the

surgery.

What can we all do?

Clinicians and nurses must identify

procedures that may lead to a sharps

injury and agree on methods to reduce

the risk. For example the dentist

should remove sharps e.g. used burs,

endo files, scalpel blades from instru-

ment trays.

All staff must make them selves

aware of the advice on safe handling

of sharps policies.

Report any near misses to practice

managers so that procedures can be

improved to prevent injury in the

future.

Report any sharp injury to enable us

to monitor and improve work practic-

es.

Use safety devices such as needle re

sheathing devices.

Follow protocols for treating

any sharps in jury that may

occur.

Discuss regularly at practice

meetings to share ideas on

how to prevent sharps inju-

ries.

Re-sheathing of needles

Needles should be

re sheathed by the clinician that has

used the needle

using an appropri-ate re sheathing

device.

The needle should

be removed by the clinician and

placed into the sharps box as soon

as possible after

use.

Needle stick injuries are the most

common form of sharp injury in our

practices but as the graph shows

above we have been seeing sharps

injuries caused by many other fac-

tors :

Scaler tips

Burs

Matrix bands

Probes

IDH’s policies and training on the

handing of sharps have recently

been reviewed by the heath and

safety inspectors following on from

a sharps injury to one of our nurses

in our Torpoint practice. The sharps

injury occurred when the nurse was

cleaning the surgery and she came

into contact with a dirty scaler tip.

We all have a duty to prevent sharp

injuries whilst working in surgery

and the purpose of this article is to

make us all aware of what we can

do to make our surgeries safer.

The information that we have gath-

ered shows that a greater proportion

Page 6

Clinical Newsletter

a greater

proportion of

sharp injuries

are happening

to our DCPs

compared to

our dentists.

We all have

a duty to

prevent

sharp

injuries

IDH has appointed compliance

managers into all of our regions.

The role of the compliance manager

is primarily to support the practice

team in providing a safe and com-pliant environment to treat our

patients.

Compliance mangers will visit all

practices to ensure the delivery of

company standards and that the correct protocols and procedures

are being followed. This will be

completed through observations, assessments and monitoring.

New Dentists will be offered sup-port and guidance from the compli-

ance manager when starting in

practice.

Laura Coleman is a compliance

manager in the North East ….

I've been working in the IDH team

now for over 8 years, as a practice

manager initially and then as an area manager for the past 5 ½ years, I

have recently moved into my new

role of compliance manager work-ing within the North East region.

A day in practice normally consists

of discussions with the practice manager and team – although the

PM will not always be present, as

many of our visits will be unan-nounced, in order to gain a true

reflection of the day to day running

of each practice.

There are numerous items to check

and verify alongside direct observa-

tions in surgery with various dentists

and nurses, giving a true feel of the practice. We will also view the de-

contamination process alongside

many other areas. We complete our visit by agreeing an action plan with

a review visit planned in.

Is it essential for us to spend time in

the practices and be there for as long

as the team needs support, we will also be on hand to offer the latest

guidance and policies.

I see our role growing and adapting over the coming months and years

and am excited for what the future

holds for compliance managers.

Laura Coleman

IDH Compliance Managers

Page 7

Clinical Newsletter

IDH continues to

work in close

partnership with the

Eastman Dental

Institute

The role of the

compliance

manager is

primarily to

support the

practice team

We continue to work in close partnership with the Eastman Dental Institute to bring our dentists the best practical clinical training at reduced rates – great value for you and a positive investment for IDH.

Most recently we sent out details of the sponsorship of 9 places on the Eastman Dental Institute MSc in Restorative

Dental Practice. We had a good response and candidates are being short listed. We will keep you updated with future opportunities.

Please visit http://idhgroup.co.uk/feedback for all feedback and suggestions.

Eastman CPD courses

Dentist Prescribing reports

Quarterly dentist prescribing reports are now available.

Each report shows your performance scored against PCT normal values using Vital signs data and data taken

from our R4 clinical systems.

Use this report to review your performance. If you need

to discuss this please contact your clinical support team.

R4 Users—Your report is available from

the Clinical Info app

SOE Users—Your report is available to

download from our web site. Login details

will be sent to your practice manager

IDH currently has 5 dental practice

working under the dental contract

pilots. Most practices entered the pilot contract 12 months ago so the

learning from being a dental pilot

are beginning to be gathered.

The pilot contract requires greater

emphasis on prevention and is operated through a structured care

pathway.

The care pathway is currently being

reviewed and refined by the DH .

The key to delivering this type of contract is in the use of skill mix.

Therapists, oral health educators

and fluoride varnish nurses are becoming very important members

of the dental team.

IDH has organised a national re-

view meeting for our practice in-

volved in the pilot process which is due to take place in November

where Sue Gregory, the deputy

chief dental office will be sharing some of the learning from the pilots

so far.

One of the IDH pilot practices is

also a VT training practice, Jona-

than Lewney is the Foundation dentist at the practice shares his

thoughts on the pilots…….

On 1st August I started DF1

(formerly ‘VT’) in Grangewood, an IDH practice that’s running the

pilot scheme for the proposed new

dental contract. My one week IDH induction helped me get to grips

with the practicalities of dentistry

after dental school and this article aims to outline first impressions of

working for IDH under the pilot

schemes as a newly qualified dentist.

In brief, the pilot scheme aims to pro-mote a more preventative approach to

dentistry by using a detailed computer-

based system that means a thorough

‘Oral Health Assessment’ (OHA)

recall intervals set according to NICE

guidelines (dentists can override these) are carried out for every patient.. A

new ‘Interim Care Management’ ap-

pointments are generated at the OHA which are short appointments aimed at

ensuring OHI is being followed, and

are distinct from, and more frequent than the Oral Health Reviews (check-

ups).

Finally, a ‘RAG’ assessment (red/

amber/green denoting risk status) for

four areas is given to the patient and this dictates whether ‘advanced

care’ (including RCT and crowns) is

appropriate according to the patients’ oral health.

For a newly qualified, salaried (DF1) dentist I feel as though I’m being en-

couraged to take the time I need over

OHAs, and other dentists I’m working with currently seem happy with the

scheme. The pilot scheme has to run

under the current ‘band’ system when charging patients (as this is current

legislation).

If the pilot scheme is adopted, howev-

er, the DH are planning to make remu-neration for dentists follow a system of

capitation, with each patient under a

dentist’s care carrying a certain value.

The more patients under our care, the

more money we’ll earn. The thinking is that if people are getting the right pre-

ventative care and advice at the right

IDH and the Department of Heath Dental Contract Pilots

Page 8

Volume1, Issue 2

IDH has 5

Pilot sites

for the new

dental

contract

time the less time dentists will have to spend carrying out oper-

ative dentistry and the more

patients we can have under our care. The use of the dental team

in delivering treatment will be

key to the success of this ap-proach.

Obviously, any changes in the dental contract has to be seen to

be in the best interest of patients

and the vast majority of patients seen under the pilot scheme

seem to be highly satisfied with

the care they’re receiving (according to the DH the average

OHA takes 20 minutes and

patients like this extra time spent with the dentist before any nee-

dles or drills come out!). But the

flip-side of this is that pilot scheme practices have initially

experienced longer waiting lists

than previously.

On balance, I’m finding that working under the pilot scheme

really feels like I will be able to

make some positive impact on patient’s oral health. I’m work-

ing according to evidence-based

practice and the patients I see seem really happy on the whole.

Positive aspects Possible problems

Patients experiencing better quality care Access – assessments are taking longer

Traffic lights system supports dentists telling

patients with poor OH they’re not eligible for

complex treatment

Practices need to alter how they deliver treat-

ment, making use of the dental team to deliv-

er treatment

Greater focus on prevention Patients frequently DNA for ICMs

As you are hopefully aware IDH

have commenced a programme to

ensure that we continue to work with only those laboratories and

personnel that have the necessary

certifications and accreditations.

We have completed an assessment

of our current laboratories and have compiled an approved list. All

laboratories on the list satisfy legal

requirements to be registered with the MHRA and that technicians are

registered with the GDC. This

protects you as all laboratory work from IDH approved labs will now

be compliant with all GDC and

legal requirements.

Questionnaires were sent to each of

the laboratories that the group

currently trades with in order to

gather information regarding their

certifications and accreditations, the nature and prices of the work pro-

vided and their geographical cover-

age.

This information was filtered, al-

lowing IDH to arrive at a list of approved laboratories holding the

necessary accreditations. The

project was presented to each of the laboratories on the list in order to

obtain their views and take into

consideration any concerns raised.

All the approved laboratories have signed contractual terms and condi-

tions which codify how the labora-

tories must work with IDH and the practices. The list of approved

laboratories, including details of

services and prices of standard products is now available on Clarity

to each of the dentists and practice

managers.

New standardised policies and pro-

cedures to be followed at both prac-tice and head office level have also

been developed. These policies and

procedures have been designed to ensure that there is a clear audit trail

for all patient treatments involving

laboratory appliances, as well as

consistent ordering, authorisation

and processing of invoices through-

out IDH which will provide far greater visibility of the information

submitted by the laboratory.

The new invoicing procedures will

ensure that you are only being

charged for lab items that have been satisfactorily completed.

These standardised policies are currently being presented to area

and practice managers during a

series of regional meetings in ad-

vance of the roll out.

Due to the scale of the project and to

allow us to address any issues that

may arise, the roll out the approved list of laboratories is being intro-

duced on a regional basis over the

course of Autumn 2012.

The regional roll out is expected to

be in the following order and the aim is to complete the changeover by the

end of December 2012 (although the

choice of Regions and timing may be subject to change):

1) North East (rolled out on 1 Octo-

ber 2012)

2) Scotland

3) North West

4) South West

5) South East

The CD team will be supporting this process. Practice and Area Mangers

will be able to update you on how

this process will be introduced in your practice.

Labs Update

Page 9

Clinical Newsletter

Look out for

forthcoming

peer review

groups being

organised in

your area

The list of

approved

laboratories,

including details of

services and prices

of standard

products is now

available on

Clarity

Clinical Directors and Clinical Support Managers are facilitating peer review groups in their regions. Many regions have already held peer review groups, look out for more details from your clinical team and get involved.

Clinicians have been invited to participate in regional panels led by their Clinical Directors. These panels are review-ing clinical initiatives and are assessing new materials and techniques, helping to drive IDH clinical policy.

Peer Review groups

We all know that the key to

providing private dentistry is

communication. Giving all pa-

tients clear and appropriate infor-

mation about the options that are

available to them and the cost of

these options will allow them to

make informed decisions about

the treatment that they want to

have. It is then up to us as den-

tists to either provide these op-

tions, if they are within our

knowledge and professional

competencies, or to refer to an

appropriately trained colleague

who can carry out the treatment.

In May 2012 the OFT highlight-

ed that many patients receive

insufficient information about

the options that are available to

them.

Feedback from the recent road-

shows showed that there was a

clear desire to offer more private

dentistry. Following this we have

been working hard to provide the

support that many people re-

quested.

IDH have launched a number of

initiatives and the results of these

have started to reach all practic-

es:

TREATMENT OPTION

CARDS:

These will have arrived in your

surgery and we hope that you are

finding them helpful.

PATIENT INFORMATION

LEAFLETS:

These are already available to

order via the Marketing Portal.

PERIO TREATMENT AND

WORKING WITH A

HYGIENIST:

Clear guidance and supporting

marketing material has been pro-

duced and will be arriving at all

practices throughout October. If

you don’t have a hygienist work-

ing with you at your practice and

you feel that the practice could

benefit from a hygienist then

please feel free to feed this back

and we will be happy to investi-

gate the possibility of appointing

a hygienist.

ORTHODONTICS:

Many people expressed an inter-

est in providing orthodontics in

general practice. The “IDH Mini-

mum Standards of Records for

Orthodontic Patients” provides

detailed guidance and is available

in all practices via the Practice

Manager.

IMPLANTS:

The demand for implants is

growing and we have devel-

oped a clear process for refer-

ring. This is accompanied by a

range of marketing material

which will be available in the

coming weeks.

We are keen to provide train-

ing for any dentists who want

to provide or restore implants.

Please follow the link below to

express an interest.

TOOTH WHITENING:

31st October is an important

date. Please see the article in

this newsletter for more de-

tails.

Do you want to do more private dentistry?

Cliff Davies Clinical Director

Page 10

Volume1, Issue 2

TRAINING:

We are continuing to source and pro-

vide appropriate training courses.

Most recently we sent out details of

the sponsorship of 9 places on the

Eastman Dental Institute MSc in Re-

storative Dental Practice. Further

courses will follow and we are happy

to receive any requests for courses that

we will be able to provide at our Acade-

my.

REFERRAL PORTAL:

Following feedback and the out-

comes of a trial of the referral portal

in the Southwest Region it has been

decided that further development is

required. We want to ensure that we

develop a straightforward yet com-

prehensive and reliable system.

In the short term would all practices

please continue to use their current

method of referring.

During the next 2 weeks we will pro-

vide all practices with referral guide-

lines and a list of nearby dentists who

are happy to receive referrals. We

will also provide you with regular

updates on the progress of this im-

portant initiative.

FUTURE INITIATIVES:

We are always keen to listen to ideas

for future initiatives and are happy to

trial these on a local basis. Please

keep your ideas coming as we are

keen to continue to develop our busi-

ness in a partnership with you.

FEEDBACK:

Please visit http://idhgroup.co.uk/

feedback for all feedback and

suggestions.

Integrated Dental Holdings

We have been undertaking a review of our material range which has led to

A process of range compression whilst maintaining choice, including materials from mainstream

manufacturers and own brand presence.

Material evaluation by CDs and CSMs giving clinical feedback on effectiveness and handling

Examples where savings have been generated has been the substitution of Sure tips with Sure Tips

‘Green’ which saving £54,000 per annum.

VisaTec visors replaced by Henry Schein Minerva own brand saving £200,000 per annum

These saving takes pressure of practice budgets with no impact on performance.

Other key decisions that have been taken :

Glass Ionomer: Fuji 2 LC / Fuji 1X(GC) and Chemfil Superior from Dentsply have been added

to the range.

General purpose NHS composite will be the latest generation Spectrum TPH 3 (sub micron

hybrid from Dentsply)

The glove range has been replaced by a body guard equivalent glove which are the same for

some but an improvement over the current range. Nitrile gloves in the new range are a better fit

and more pliable in use.

Private materials

Materials not available of the core lists are available to order for private treatments.

The procedure for ordering materials specifically for private treatments remains unchanged. Please ap-

proach your Practice manager with a request that includes a plan for how and how many treatments you

are planning on delivering and your PM will seek authorisation.

Materials—what have we been doing?

Materials have

been evaluated

by CDs and

CSMs giving

clinical

feedback on

changes

Page 11

Integrated Dental Holdings

In order to comply with these

requirements patients must

have a dental examination by

a dentist to assess their suita-

bility for whitening treatment.

In order to ensure compliance with

the new regulations IDH has taken

advice from the Medical Protection

Society and has published a booklet

‘How to successfully offer Tooth

Whitening Treatments’ and an

online training course that provides

verifiable CPD.

Dentists must ensure that they are

familiar with this advice before

starting whitening treatment.

In appropriate clinical cases tooth

whitening can provide safe and ef-

fective treatment. Whitening must

be provided on a private basis as it

is a cosmetic treatment and thus not

included under NHS.

When entering whitening treatment

on R4 please ensure that you are

using the code 5010 for Safe Whit-

ening to ensure that patients are

charged correctly and dentists are

paid correctly.

Marketing material for use within

the practice is available. External

marketing is allowed after October

31st..

You will be aware of the uncertain-

ties surrounding the legal position of

providing tooth whitening with hy-

drogen peroxide in the past few

years.

On the 31st October the EU di-

rective allowing dentists to use up

to 6% hydrogen peroxide for

tooth whitening passes into UK

law in The Cosmetic Products

(Safety) (Amendment) Regula-

tions 2012.

There are a number of requirements

that must be met when using up to

6% hydrogen peroxide tooth whiten-

ing.

Maximum concentration 6%

H2O2 released.

Can only be sold to a dentist.

For each cycle of use, the first

use must be carried out by

dental practitioners or under

their direct supervision if an

equivalent level of safety is

ensured.

Afterwards may be provided

to the patient to complete the

cycle of use.

Not to be used on person un-

der 18 years of age.

Tooth Whitening—EU directive passes into UK law

The Cosmetic

Products

(Safety)

(Amendment)

Regulations

2012 pass into

UK law on the

31st October.

IDH Tooth Whitening

marketing material

IDH guide ‘How to successfully offer tooth whiten-

ing treatment’ is available on Clarity.

Marketing material will be available for the launch

in November.