Position Summary
Impaired practitioners should be encouraged to seek assistance at an early stage and report their condition to
the Board. There should be zero tolerance towards substance abuse by dental practitioners where there is a
risk to patient safety. Impaired dental practitioners can continue to provide valuable and safe dental health
services, as long as their conditions are carefully managed by their medical practitioner(s) and relevant bodies.
1. Background
1.1. “Impaired” in this statement refers to physical or mental impairments, disabilities or conditions,
including Substance Abuse and dependence, which detrimentally affects, or is likely to detrimentally
affect, a Dental Practitioner’s physical or mental capacity to practise.
1.2. Dental Practitioners may become impaired during the course of their working lives, deleteriously
affecting their ability to practise safely and competently. Frequently these practitioners recover or
adjust, to continue their professional careers.
1.3. The prospect of continuing to practise is a powerful motivation for impaired practitioners to
rehabilitate.
1.4. Under the National Law health practitioners must make mandatory notifications in some limited
circumstances.
1.5. Older practitioners have greater experience and are often seen as sources of guidance. However,
there is usually an increased incidence of health impairment as individuals age, and this affects
Dental Practitioners in the same way as the rest of the community.
Definitions
1.6. BOARD is the Dental Board of Australia.
1.7. DENTAL PRACTITIONER is a person registered by the Board to provide dental care.
1.8. IMPAIRMENT is a physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or disorder that detrimentally
affects, or is likely to detrimentally affect, the practitioner’s physical or mental capacity to practise,
and includes substance abuse and dependence.
1.9. NATIONAL LAW is the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Acts 2009 as in force in each
state and territory.
1.10. SUBSTANCE ABUSE is the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including
alcohol, prescription drugs, and illicit drugs.
2. Position
2.1. Impaired practitioners should be encouraged to seek assistance at an early stage and report their
condition to the Board.
2.2. There should be zero tolerance towards substance abuse by Dental Practitioners where there is a
risk to patient safety.
2.3. The provisions in the National Law applying to impaired dental practitioners should be separate
from, but complementary to, those provisions dealing with complaints, notifications and disciplinary
proceedings.
2.4. If the Board believes that a dental practitioner is impaired, the matter should be dealt with under the
impairment provisions of the National Law in the first instance, even if the matter may lead to
eventual suspension or cancellation of registration.
2.5. Dental practise by practitioners recovering from impairment, and the maintenance of professional
standards, are not mutually exclusive goals.
2.6. Impaired dental practitioners can continue to provide valuable and safe dental health services, as
long as their conditions are carefully managed by their medical practitioner(s) and relevant bodies.
2.7. The impairment provisions of the National Law should provide for both informal and formal
processes:
2.7.1. Informal management of impaired practitioners allows the Board to collect information
about, assess and manage an impaired practitioner with the practitioner’s full cooperation.
The identity of an impaired practitioner who is fully cooperating with the Board should not
be disclosed publicly.
2.7.2. Formal management is appropriate where an impaired practitioner does not fully
cooperate with the Board. Impairment provisions of the National Law must empower the
Board to suspend registration, impose conditions and publicly identify on the Register
any impaired practitioner dealt with under the formal management processes.
2.8. The duration of drug screening of any practitioner whom the Board believes is misusing drugs
should be dependent on medical advice and the frequency scaled to reward compliance while
preserving protection of the public.
2.9. Formal supervision of impaired practitioners with medical conditions that cause unpredictable or
intermittent impairment may be appropriate.
2.10. Practitioners recovering from impairment should be monitored at regular intervals by appropriately
qualified medical practitioners nominated by the Board. Any restriction of practise hours or workload
should be based on such medical advice.
2.11. Proposals to keep late career practitioners in safe practice must ensure a balance between
protecting the public and avoiding unlawful and unjustified aged-based discrimination.
2.12. Unless there is substantial risk of harm, Dental Practitioners working for the Australian Dental
Association and its Branches in a confidential advisory capacity should be exempt from making any
mandatory notifications against the practitioners involved.
