Information on Denturism Legislation in Ontario The following article is excerpted from the book "Uppers and Downers". Information on Denturism Legislation in Ontario - This article outlines the bizarre and illogical arguments against allowing denturists to work independently.

I would like to reflect on the rebuttals to dentistry's claims that denturists are a "threat to public health". In 1973, Gordon Smith, Public Relations Counsel for the Denturist Society of Ontario, addressed a public meeting in Toronto on the topic of "Dental Supervision". The following is part of that address:

"…When you look at Bill 246, and I have looked at it very carefully, the concept of Dental supervision and the new Dental worker, described as the Denture Therapist, is a complete misnomer. It's completely unworkable. Imagine, if you will, a Dentist hiring the services of a Denture Therapist, being obliged to stand aside patiently while the Denture Therapist takes impressions of a patient's mouth, does bite registrations and eventually inserts dentures, and who apparently will be required to observe meticulously every procedure carried out by this worker. The procedure, incidentally, which Dentists have insisted they can do better, more effectively and with all the safeguards because they have been trained in all aspects of dental sciences and realize Section 15, subsection 1 & 2 of Bill 246 requires unequivocally that Dentists or Dental Surgeons using Denturists must personally supervise in all their activities. Now I refer to these two sections.

'No Denture Therapist shall practice Denture Therapy on a patient except in the office of a Dental Surgeon, or a Dental Clinic and under the direct supervision of a Dental Surgeon, and every Dental Surgeon who uses the services of a Denture Therapist shall personally supervise the work of the Denture Therapist on a patient and shall inform himself of all aspects of the progress of the work.'

I submit, Madam Chairman, that if a Dentist has to be in attendance throughout the period of time involved of the Denture Therapist carrying out his duties, there can be no reduction in cost, since he has both his own time to consider and the time of the Denture Therapist, who presumably will have to be paid, or there's no guarantee of that and since the Dentist must be personally present, hence cannot be involved in the more important aspects of his practice. Why would he want to use the services of a Denturist who is obviously not as well trained or as competent as the Dentist himself and they must have constant supervision, when he can spend the same amount of time that he must spend in the same room as the Denture Therapist, doing the work himself?

A further totally inexplicable aspect is why then even use the Denture Therapist to do the mechanical procedures associated with the manufacture of dentures, when there are already numerous Dental Laboratories operated by Dental Technicians who have been performing this service for Dentists for years. In short, why have Denture Therapists at all, particularly when one realizes it would be financially impossible for the Denture Therapist, who, according to the Act, may have his own place of business where he could process and complete the mechanical procedures of the work initiated in a Dentist's office? To purchase the necessary laboratory equipment to do this, since the only work he may do in his own place of business would be the work he undertook in the Dentist's office, unlike a Dental Technician, who may receive work from all over the city, province or country from Dentists he has never seen. I want to emphasize again, that the only denture work a Denture Therapist may do, unlike a Dental Technician, is the work he initiates in a Dentist's office, and only these appliances would he be allowed to process. He could not construct dentures from impressions and models supplied by a Dentist, unless he himself were there taking the impressions under a Dentist's supervision. In short, if he could not get a Dentist to supervise him while he takes impressions, he could not do any of the mechanical procedures he was trained to do.

Since Section 8, Subsection 2, 'having regard for those Dental Technicians who operate and own Dental laboratories will prohibit a Denture Therapist from owning, operating or having a proprietary interest in a commercial Dental laboratory.' Without supervision in a Dentist's office, he partakes in any procedures associated with Dentists in this light. Bill 246 is a colossal fraud and a hoax. It purports to require a laboratory training and education requirements which will be rendered unnecessary, since a Denture Therapist will never be required to make a decision on his own, hence the necessity of supervision. Therefore reactivating the Lowes committee, which is what the Health Minister has done to establish educational requirements, the standard scope of practice is nothing more than the abuse of the taxpayer's money. Not being allowed to make independent decisions, there's really no necessity to train him in those areas where he might be required to do so.

Another extraordinary aspect of the Act, and one which indicates the Minister, Dr. Potter (and he is a Doctor) performs some heartless surgery on his own legislation. Section 13 of the Act says, 'no licensed Denture Therapist is liable to any action from negligence or malpractice, by reason of professional services requested or rendered unless such action commences within two years from the date, when in the matter of the complainants of such professional service is terminated'. Section 14, on first reading, would indicate if you went to a Denture Therapist who is being supervised by a Dentist who received dentures from that Denture Therapist. If, 18 or 19 months after receiving those dentures, had done irreparable harm, you are entitled under the law to commence an action on the face of it. Since he is under supervision and can't make a decision on his own, why should he even be liable?

Another extraordinary aspect is the statute of limitation in the Dentistry Act is only six months, but for the Denture Therapist it is two years. So technically, if you were to commence an action against a Denture Therapist within the two year period, and he said, 'Hey, I never did that, the Dentist said it was alright,' could you then commence an action against the Dentist, when the statutes of limitation in the Dentistry Act is six months? Completely bizarre."

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