Explanatory note

These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (General Dental Services) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/661) (“the principal Regulations”) which regulate the terms on which general dental services are provided under the National Health Service Act 1977.

The Regulations provide for the establishment of a list of those dentists providing treatment as part of general dental services to patients under general anaesthesia (regulation 6). This includes a right of appeal where a dentist is denied inclusion in the general anaesthesia list because of the condition of his premises. Regulation 5 introduces a similar right of appeal for a dentist who is denied inclusion in the dental list.

Regulation 7 amends Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations which sets out dentists' terms of service. It provides that treatment under general anaesthesia as part of general dental services cannot be provided unless the dentist is on the Health Authority’s general anaesthesia list, that general anaesthesia may not form part of treatment which mixes general dental services and private dentistry, and that dentists on the general anaesthesia list must permit inspections of their premises. It also substitutes new categories of those who are permitted to administer general anaesthesia for the purposes of general dental services.