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DENTAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA
NEWS
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Sun, 05 Feb 2006
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GROSS INJUSTICE AND PROFESSIONAL DISCRIMINATION
I would like to bring to your attention the
gross injustice and discriminations faced by our
profession since the development of independent
practice of dental therapy in our country in
1994, where dental therapists were given their
right to the independent practice of their
profession This fuelled discontent with
dentists as dental therapists entered the dental
fraternity in the private practice context of
dental service delivery. In brief, dental therapy
is a dental profession that provides for basic
and secondary dental care required by all people
in South Africa these services include and are
not limited to;
1. General preventative dental procedures
2. Taking of dental x-rays
3. consultation , diagnosis and prognosis of
dental abnormalities
4. Treatment planning including execution
of procedures such as ;
- restoration (fillings) of teeth all
classes & types
- extractions
- attending to dental emergencies
- pulp therapies
- sutures , treatment of sepsis abcess
excision & drainage
In perspective, dental therapists provide
services which are required by all individuals ,
as well as the oral health care package of
services highlighted by the minister of health in
the white paper on the transformation of oral
healthcare in South Africa , where debate has
loomed in her statements such as ; one dentist
post can be converted to two dental therapy posts
and serve the needs of the people more
efficiently . Although it may appear in many
professional circles that our profession does not
exist , it must be understood by the reader that
dental therapy has been ostracized from the
dental fraternity in South Africa, as the
profession does not enjoy adequate representation
at committees and bodies that determine the
education , continued professional development ,
remuneration by medical schemes ( board of
healthcare funders ) who autonomously, under the
guise of dentists who do not represent dental
therapy ,make unsatisfactory decisions and
contribute to the degradation of the profession .
DENTASA Dental Therapy Association Of South
Africa is the sole organ that represents dental
therapists in South Africa . The antagonistic and
condescending approach adopted by dentists toward
the profession is blatantly visible in their
position paper published in the South African
Dental Journal SADA South African Dental
Association ( association of dentists ) that
calls for a closure of the profession and to end
the training of dental therapists Since this
position paper was published, the committee of
dental deans ( so called gurus of dentistry - who
are all dentists members of SADA ) together with
SADA lobbied for the closure of the profession
and refused to credit any dental therapist
wanting to progress to become a dentist , and
treating such person as a matriculant ( totally
contradictory to the skills development act and
the recognition of prior learning )
However their appeal for closure of
dental therapy was unsuccessful due to the
responsibility of government and the ministry of
health to scientifically approach the matter ,
where it was found through studies and research
conducted in the needs analysis for dentistry in
South Africa that dental therapists are direly
needed and training and recruitment of dental
therapists need to be increased .
Though there are many struggles that the
association is dealing with at present, and with
hope that I have put you in perspective of our
dilemma , there is one issue that your office
would be able to intervene in .
This includes the following ;
1. Inequality in dentistry services pricing
structures
2. Professional Discrimination by medical
schemes
3. No representation at medical schemes
1.
A) PRICING - NRPL
Dental Therapy is a historically black profession
and as a result has suffered many restrictions
and discriminations in the past, most of its
freedoms were only realized since 1994 .
In the true spirit of free and fare trade and
black economic empowerment , DENTASA requests
the reader to facilitate the abolishing of
pricing structures(NPRL DENTAL THERAPY)
autonomously set out for dental therapy by the
Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) - influenced
by dentists , and initiate a consultative
process with DENTASA to set pricing and
guidelines for the practice of our profession .
As an example among many, dentists provide the
same procedures that dental therapists do
dental consultation, treatment planning,
restorations, extractions, x-rays etc
however
dental pricing as per NRPL for dental local
anesthetics is R 8.70 for dental therapists
whilst at R32.00 for a dentist this is but one
code that represents the blatant disregard for a
consultative process that the BHF needs to
implement and to regard dental therapy as a
sovereign profession. Dental Therapists have the
same clinical overheads, costs of service
provision and maintenance as dentists in the
formulae used to provide pricing for dental
services.
At this point DENTASA has agreed for a level
charge for all procedures provided to match the
NRPL used for dentists. This is seen as first
step in eliminating inequality of service
provision.
2.
B) PROFESSIONAL DISCRIMINATION
As a matter of urgency, DENTASA hereby
prioritizes the current discrimination being
experienced by - DENIS DENTAL INFORMATION
SYSTEMS who have currently taken overt the
management of dental claims from seven or more
schemes that they represent. Denis is a PTY LTD
that was founded by two dentists and governed by
a committee made up of dentists exclusively; they
do have oral hygienists (8) that man their call
centers.
Dental therapists are discriminated against as
follows;
1. No consultative process
2. No representation from the association /
the board of dental therapy
3. Autonomous Discriminatory rules and
regulations enforced without notification, solely
influenced by dentists who are clearly anti
dental therapy.
4. Limitations to the provision of fillings,
x-rays and other procedures are more for dentists
than that for dental therapists eg; - a dental
therapist may not provide more than three
fillings for a patient at any visit and no more
than ten for a year per family where a DENTIST
CAN PROVIDE FOR THE SAME PATIENT up to five /
seven fillings in one visit and up to ten or more
fillings for each member of the family per year.
5. Whilst rules and regulations in the
practice of dentistry may be necessary,
discriminatory rules and regulations on the basis
of unjustified findings are unconstitutional and
are unprogressive in creating a healthy
relationship between service providers and
schemes most importantly our patients.
DENTASA hereby appeals to this office to address
this pressing issue as a matter of urgency, our
members have been advised to continue treating
their patients and disregard these discriminatory
rules.
Furthermore Oral Health month August 2005 was
promoted by DENIS who excluded dental therapists
from their Smile Program dental awareness
campaign. Why is DENIS not representative of the
service providers their schemes depend on?
There are other schemes that are being
investigated by DENTASA for having similar
dentist influence and are discriminatory.
It appears that legislation is required for
representation of the profession in the decision
making process that impacts the profession of
dental therapy at medical schemes .
3. REPRESENTATION OF DENTAL THERAPY
The profession of Dental Therapy requires
appropriate representation at all levels of
governance of the profession. The anti democratic
style and non-consultative approach adopted by
many schemes need to change urgently. Dentists do
not represent the profession or dental
therapists. DENTASA is the official and sole body
to liaise with and would not tolerate any
discrimination of its members or the profession.
DENTASA hereby appeals to this office to;
- Set / enforce regulations that ensures
adequate representation of dental therapists with
regards to dental advisors and dental committees
in medical schemes.
- Every scheme should consult with and have
representation of dental therapists in matters
concerning dental therapy .
- The board of healthcare funders need to
consult with and may require appropriate dental
therapy representation for decision-making
purposes.
Posted 18:06
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5 comments
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difficulty in finding vacancies
Im a dental therapist who qualified in 2005.Im
finding difficulty in finding any vacancies in
our profession.Some dentists dn't seem to know
what a dental therapist is and seem reluctant to
employ us.I'm currently seeking employment in
Rustenberg,N.west province or durban area,kzn.
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difficulty in finding vacancies
Im a dental therapist who qualified in 2005.Im
finding difficulty in finding any vacancies in
our profession.Some dentists dn't seem to know
what a dental therapist is and seem reluctant to
employ us.I'm currently seeking employment in
Rustenberg,N.west province or durban area,kzn.
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seeking vacancy
seeking vacancy in the degree of dental therapy
in and around durban
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Contact number of IPA
Hi
i am the Marketing Manager for Transmed medical
Fund and would like to liaise on a moire regular
basis with DENTAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH
AFRICA. Could you please forward me your contact
number and person who liaise with medical aids,
of the IPa and also your events calendar for
2008. Regards Josef de Beer 011 381 2067
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Full-time dentist required
F
ull-time dentist required, to work in busy u
pmarket dental practice in Windhoek, Namibia. J
oin a young and dynamic team. Very competative p
ackage available. Modern equiped practices.
P
lease contact windhoekdental@gmail.com

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