Biting back with Spencer Wells
In need of therapy? Y
ou know how it is – everything goes smoothly for a while, and you sit back on your laurels and
think: “How long can this last?” Well, my luck is out, because
my associate is in the family way and will be finishing up in a few months. Unfortunately, she is not the main breadwinner, so she is planning to take a year off to enjoy yummy mummy lunches. So, where does it leave me? I’ve had interesting past experi-
ence with locums. The last guy looked like he had rolled out of his bed straight into the car, and dropped his ‘on-the-go’ breakfast down his tunic. His beard would have made an ideal nesting ground for an endangered bird species, and I didn’t care much for his ponytail – but he came well recom- mended, and guess what? The patients loved him, which is all that matters at the end of the day, and I was sorry to see him go. I bought him an iron as a going away present, which he laughed hard at then probably gave it to his mum as a birthday present. I’ve heard so many stories about
locums coming in and wreaking havoc – either by slagging off their predecessor and sending patients into a complete tizz, or by leaving a mess behind, which I cannot face. I must admit I am wondering about bringing a therapist into the prac- tice, but as soon as you mention therapists to dentists they look bewildered. I was too, so I did a bit of digging in the GDC website (which has been changed for the worse) and it looks like they can do quite a fair bit of what I do day in, day out. The main exceptions are endo
on permanent teeth and most treatments involving labwork; pity, because I would be a happy man if I could delegate molar endo and F/F – yes, I know I could
“I bought him an iron as a going away present, which he laughed hard at then probably gave it to his mum as a birthday present”
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delegate F/F to a clinical dental technician but I am not planning on running a polyclinic, or what- ever they are called. It’s not easy to find out how
many therapists qualify in Scot- land every year, but there must be about 20, as there are two schools offering training via a BSc in Oral Health Sciences. There are one or two therapists that I know of in practice, but a recent journal paper stated that many of them are working as hygienists, and as a result are rapidly de-skilling. I’m not sure how they would be
remunerated in England, under the UDA system; and to be fair, they can’t hold a health board contract up here either, but I think we need to at least consider therapists as a viable alternative to an associate, if
our practices permit. We are right to protect our own
profession, but only to a point. Medicine has had nurse practi- tioners for a while now, and medical schools aren’t closing down all over the place. We need to think out of the box and see beyond the end of our nose. Wish me luck!
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