Dental technicians: regulation and quality assurance

For many years, dental technicians were largely self-regulated and left to work without any undue interference from, or legislation by, outside authorities. This situation has changed somewhat dramatically in recent years, primarily as a result of a) mandatory General Dental Council (GDC) registration of UK-based dental technicians and b) the requirement to comply with certain EC directives governing the provision of dental appliances. There seems to be some confusion, however, about these various changes and the ensuing ramifications for dental practitioners. The purpose of this paper is firstly to clarify the various regulatory issues currently surrounding technician registration and the provision of laboratory work ('Made in Britain' or otherwise) and secondly to explore the various internationally-recognised quality assurance standards that can be applied to the production of such work in order to assist dentists in gauging quality-related claims made by dental laboratories, both in the UK and overseas.