News
Mouthguard rules must be enforced
Guidelines. IDA expresses concern
The president of the Irish Dental Association (IDA) has expressed his concerns that gaelic football players are not adhering to new guidelines on mouthguards.
Dr Andrew Bolas was reacting to reports at the end of January that several college footballers were photographed playing without mouthguards in Munster and Leinster games.
From 1 January it has been compulsory for juvenile gaelic footballers to wear mouth- guards, both in games and training. Dr Bolas said: “Previ- ously we had urged the GAA to bring in this rule and we warmly welcomed it when it was intro- duced. However, strict enforce- ment from the start is key, as we have seen from the success of the ‘no mouthguard no play’
approach adopted by other codes from under six right up to minor/under 18 level.” The IDA has issued new guidelines on the use of mouthguards and is urging gaelic football referees and coaches to strictly enforce the new rules. The new guide urges anyone involved in organised sporting activities to be aware of how to deal with unexpected dental trauma.
Dr Bolas, who is regularly called in to Sligo General Hospital to treat the results of sports-related injuries, said: “Some injuries to teeth from a clash of heads or a stray elbow can be quite horrific, with teeth broken, displaced or completely knocked out. “While customised mouth- guards are more expensive initially, they do provide the best comfort and protection and could well prove much cheaper in the long run.”
“Some injuries to teeth from a clash of heads or a stray elbow can be quite horrific”
Tony Clough (left) talks with delegates
GPA launch oral health programme
TRAINING DAY
The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) launched the GPA Oral Health Awareness Programme with a training day for dentists at the Croke Park Hotel, Dublin in January.
The programme’s objective is to improve the awareness
of the importance of good oral health to GPA members and help prevent orofacial injuries during training and matches. The programme will involve a dentist assigned to a county, to focus on improving the overall oral health of GPA members within that county. The training day was based on the growing dental interest of sports dentistry. The chief dental officer of the London Olympics 2012 and IOC dental adviser, Dr Tony Clough, spoke to the 34 dentists in attend- ance on the subject.
Consultant accused of malpractice
HEARING
A Belfast consultant in oral medicine has appeared in front of the General Dental Council accused of 46 counts of inadequate patient management with regards to 33 different patients. Professor Philip Lamey, of Holywood, Co Down, was working at the School of Dentistry at the Royal Victoria Hospital at the time of the alleged malpractice. The hearing began on 18 February in London and is not expected to be finished before 22 March.
The charges against Prof Lamey include failing to carry out or refer patients for biopsies of lesions and inadequate record keeping. In one case, referred to as
8 Ireland’s Dental magazine
patient 4, it is alleged that he allowed a dental trainee – a senior house officer – to carry out a biopsy, an action expert witness Stephen Layton referred to as “unwise”.
Mr Layton, a maxillofacial surgeon who appeared at the hearing for the GDC, explained that it wasn’t unusual to let SHOs carry out biopsies, it was not on those where the underlying problem could be more serious. He said: “The suspi- cion, I felt, should have been present from the outset that this was not a straightfor- ward case.
“Therefore allocating the excision of something that could be a tumour to a junior member of staff was, in my view, unwise.”
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