Check for June 30 registration expiry

The Dental Board of Australia has urged dental practitioners across all states and territories to check their registration expiry date and renew on time as many are due to renew by 30 June 2011 - the first time this has occurred under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.

Board Chair Dr John Lockwood said this was particularly important for dentists with a principal place of practice in ACT, New South Wales or South Australia. Practitioners can check their registration expiry date on the National Register of Dental Practitioners, published online at www.dentalboard.gov.au.

Dental practitioners who are due to renew by 30 June 2011 are reminded that they will need to renew their registration again by 30 November 2011. This will align all dental practitioners to the national renewal date of 30 November each year.

Dr Lockwood encouraged dental practitioners whose registration expires on 30 June 2011 to renew on time and online.

“In the National Scheme, individual practitioners are responsible for renewing their registration on time. The job of the Dental Board of Australia along with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is to make this as simple and straightforward as possible,” he said.

Dr Lockwood said AHPRA was implementing an intensive communication campaign to support the renewal process. This will include sending several reminder emails and letters to individual dental practitioners. He encouraged practitioners to provide AHPRA with their email address to allow for easy and efficient direct communication with them.

Dr Lockwood reminded dental practitioners that there were significant consequences for individual practitioners who do not renew on time in the National Scheme.

Under the National Law, dental practitioners who do not renew registration within one month of their registration expiry date must be removed from the National Register of Dental Practitioners. Their registration will lapse and they will not be able to practise dentistry in Australia until a new application for registration is approved.

“Neither the Board nor AHPRA have any discretion about this so our advice is clear: renew on time and online,” Dr Lockwood said.

Practitioners who need to renew by 30 June 2011 and again by 30 November 2011 are:

• Dentists in ACT and SA;
• Hygienists in ACT, NSW and SA;
• Oral health therapists in NSW;
• Dental prosthetists in NSW and SA; and
• Therapists in NSW, SA and ACT.