Dentists Act 1957
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1957 c. 28 |
| Year | 1957 |
Dentists Act , 1957
(5 & 6 Eliz. 2) 28
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to dentists and other dental workers with corrections and improvements authorised under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act, 1949.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
The General Dental Council
1 Constitution and general duties of Council.
(1) There shall continue to be a body called the General Dental Council whose general concern it shall be to promote high standards of professional education and professional conduct among dentists, and who shall in particular perform the functions assigned to them by this Act.
(2) Part I of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the General Dental Council.
Part II
The Dental Profession
Qualification for registration
2 Qualification for registration in dentists register.
(1) A person who is a graduate or licentiate in dentistry of one of the dental authorities shall be entitled to be registered in the dentists register in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(2) A degree or licence in dentistry granted by a dental authority shall not confer any right or title to be registered under the Medical Act, 1956, nor to assume any name, title or designation implying that the holder of the degree or licence is by law recognised as a practitioner or licentiate in medicine or general surgery.
(3) For the purposes of this Act the expression ‘dental authority’ means any medical authority within the meaning of the following provisions of this section who grant diplomas in dentistry.
(4) For the purposes of this section the expression ‘medical authority’ means, subject to the next following subsection, any of the universities or other bodies who choose appointed members of the General Medical Council.
(5) If a new university is at any time hereafter created in the Republic of Ireland and any of their examinations become qualifying examinations in medicine, surgery and midwifery for the purposes of the Medical Act, 1956, the expression ‘medical authority’ in this Act shall include that university.
Qualifying examinations
3 Authority to hold examinations and grant licences.
(1) Any medical authority within the meaning of the last foregoing section who have power for the time being to grant surgical degrees may, notwithstanding anything in any Act of Parliament, charter or other document, hold examinations in dentistry and grant licences certifying the fitness of the holders to practise dentistry; and the holders' names shall be entered on a list of licentiates in dentistry to be kept by the medical authority.
(2) The foregoing subsection shall be without prejudice to any power to grant a degree or licence in dentistry which a medical authority may possess apart from the provisions of this Act.
4 Conduct examinations for degrees and licences.
(1) For the purpose of any examinations to qualify for a degree or licence in dentistry held by—
(a ) any university in England or Wales, Scotland or Ireland,
(b ) the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh,
(c ) the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, or
(d ) the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,
the Council or other governing body of the university, college or faculty may appoint a board of examiners.
(2) Each of the said boards shall be called the Board of Examiners in Dental Surgery or Dentistry, and shall consist of not less than six members, one half of whom at least shall be registered dentists, and nothing in any Act of Parliament, charter or other document shall make it necessary for them to possess any other qualification.
(3) Persons appointed under this section shall continue in office for such period, and shall conduct the examinations in such manner, as the governing body appointing them may by byelaws or regulations respectively direct.
(4) A casual vacancy in any such board of examiners may be filled by the governing body which appointed the board and the person so appointed—
(a ) shall be a registered dentist if the person in whose place he is appointed was a registered dentist, and
(b ) shall hold office for such time only as that other person would have held office.
(5) Such reasonable fees shall be paid for a degree or licence awarded after examination by a board of examiners under this section as the governing body by whom they were appointed may by byelaws or regulations direct and the degrees or licences awarded after examination by the board of examiners shall be in such form as that governing body may so direct.
(6) All byelaws and regulations made by a dental authority under the authority of this section, and any further byelaws or regulations altering or revoking them, shall be made in such manner, and subject to such approval or confirmation, if any, as in the case of other byelaws or regulations made by that dental authority.
5 Granting of licences by Royal College of Surgeons of England.
5. The Royal College of Surgeons of England shall continue to hold examinations, and to appoint a board of examiners in dentistry, and to grant licences certifying the fitness of the holders to practise, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of their charter dated the eighth day of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and the byelaws made in pursuance of that charter; and the name of the holder of any licence so granted shall be entered on a list of licentiates in dentistry to be kept by the said college.
6 Admission of candidates to examinations.
6. A dental authority shall admit to the examinations held by them to qualify for a degree or licence in dentistry any person desirous of being examined who has attained the age of twenty-one years, and has complied with the regulations in force (if any) as to education laid down by the dental authority.
7 Supervision of examinations.
(1) Every dental authority shall from time to time when required by the General Dental Council furnish them with such information as the Council may require as to the course of study and examinations to be gone through in order to obtain a degree or licence in dentistry and generally as to the conditions laid down for obtaining such a degree or licence.
(2) Any member of the General Dental Council or any person appointed by the Council may be present at any such examinations and the General Dental Council shall have power to remunerate members of the Council, as well as non-members, for being present at the examinations.
Dental education
8 Functions of Education Committee.
8. The General Dental Council shall refer to their Education Committee for advice on all matters relating to dental education and examinations and that Committee shall be constituted in accordance with paragraph 10 of Part II of the First Schedule to this Act.
9 Attendance of visitors at dental schools.
(1) The General Dental Council may appoint persons to visit, subject to any directions which the Privy Council may deem it expedient to give and to compliance with any conditions specified in those directions, places where instruction is given to dental students under the direction of a dental authority.
(2) It shall be the duty of visitors appointed under this section to report to the General Dental Council as to the sufficiency of the instruction given in the places which they visit and as to any other matters relating to the instruction which may be specified by the Council either generally or in any particular case; but no visitor shall interfere with the giving of any instruction.
(3) On the receipt of a report of a visitor under this section, the Council shall send a copy of the report to the dental authority in question, and on the receipt of the copy a dental authority may, within such period (not being less than one month) as the Council may have specified at the time they sent the copy of the report, make to the Council observations on the report or objections thereto.
(4) As soon as may be after the expiration of the period specified under the last foregoing subsection the Council shall send a copy of any such report as is therein referred to and of any observations thereon or objections thereto duly made, together with the Council's comments on the report and on any such observations and objections, to the Privy Council.
(5) The Council shall have power to remunerate members of the Council, as well as non-members, for acting as visitors under this section and the remuneration shall be at such rates as the Privy Council may approve.
10 Remedy where qualifying courses of study or examinations are inadequate.
(1) Where it appears to the General Dental Council that the course of study and examinations to qualify for a degree or licence in dentistry granted by a dental authority are not such as to secure the possession by the graduates or licentiates of the requisite knowledge and skill for the efficient practice of dentistry, the General Dental Council may make a representation to that effect to the Privy Council and on any such representation the Privy Council may, if they think fit, order that...
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