What Is A Clinical Dental Technician?
A Clinical Dental Technician will have Started their career as an dental technician, making false teeth, crowns and bridges, denture repairs, orthodontic appliances, etc., for dentists and Orthodontists local and nationwide. A dental technician would receive oral impressions and clinical work from dental surgery's and carry out all the laboratory work that was prescribed for the patient. The majority of dental technicians would never meet the person that they were making the dentures for.
Before 2006 dental technicians and dental nurses were not registered with the General Dental Council.
Many dental technicians took oral dental impressions themselves illegally, with no formal education in oral health or clinical hygiene and would make and fit false teeth themselves. In 2006 the General Dental Council brought registration for dental technicians and dental nurses compulsory.
In 2009 the General Dental Council made it legal for dental technicians to study for and gain a qualification in Clinical Dental Technology (CDT), from the Royal College of Surgeons, giving the dental technician a new scope of practice.
What Can A Clinical Dental Technician Do?
A Clinical Dental Technician is a registered dental professional who can provide full dentures direct to the patient without the patient having to see the dentist first.
If you have no natural teeth or roots the clinical dental technician can provide you with a complete set of dentures but if you have even one tooth or root then your CDT must refer you to a dentist for an oral examination before treatment can begin which is in your best interests.
A clinical dental technician can also provide a denture repair, relines of complete dentures if you have no natural teeth.
A CDT is the person that will take the impressions, be it complete or partial, take a correct bite and alter the wax try in while you wait.
Because your CDT is the only person involved in creating your new smile then you can have every confidence that your smile will be the best in Cumbria.
For a link to the full Scope of practice click here