Ethics and professionalism education for dental practitioners

The Dental Board of Australia regulates dentists and dental specialists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists under the National Law. Each division has its own education pathway and its own scope of practice, but all dental practitioners share the same core professional obligations and are measured against the same set of Board documents.

The key documents are:

• The shared Code of conduct (29 June 2022), which the Dental Board has adopted with most other National Boards.
• The Scope of practice registration standard and Guidelines for scope of practice (1 July 2020).
• Registration standards on CPD, recency of practice, professional indemnity insurance, criminal history and English language skills.
• Shared guidelines on advertising a regulated health service (14 December 2020), registered health practitioners and students in relation to blood-borne viruses (6 July 2020), mandatory notifications (1 March 2020) and the supervised practice framework.
• Guidelines on non-surgical cosmetic procedures and on advertising higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures, both effective from 2 September 2025, which matter for dentists offering injectables or facial aesthetics.

When a notification is made about a dental practitioner, Ahpra and the Board ask how the practitioner's conduct compares with these documents. In New South Wales, complaints are managed by the Dental Council of New South Wales with the Health Care Complaints Commission. In Queensland, the Office of the Health Ombudsman receives complaints and refers some to Ahpra and the Board.

Since 1 July 2020, the Dental Board's scope of practice standard has rested on a simple test: you practise only within the education, training and competence you hold, within your division. Dental hygienists, dental therapists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists judge their own scope and must refer when a patient's needs go beyond it. Dentists and specialists apply the same test to procedures they have not been trained in or have not performed recently.

That freedom brings responsibility. Practitioners working independently need robust referral arrangements, the confidence to say that something is outside what they do, and records that show their scope decisions. Being asked to "just place the temporary" does not change anyone's scope: directing work outside scope is a breach for the person who directs it and the person who does it, and "my employer told me to" is not a defence.

Our two dental courses are designed as a pair. Ethics and ethical standards for dental practitioners covers values and reasoning: autonomy and consent, honesty in fees and advertising, avoiding overtreatment, justice and access, and the courage to act ethically under commercial pressure. Professionalism and professional standards for dental practitioners covers the Board's framework: scope, infection prevention and control, dental records, CPD and recency, and accountability in corporate and employed settings.

Record the time you actually spend on each course and keep the certificate with a short note on what you will change. That makes the activity meaningful at audit time. Practitioner Ethics is independent and not affiliated with Ahpra or the Dental Board, and our courses are not accredited by either. You decide whether a course fits your CPD plan.

Corporate and employed practice

Corporate groups, health fund clinics and practices owned by non-practitioners can bring targets, scheduling pressure and marketing that the treating practitioner did not write. The National Law makes it an offence to direct or incite a practitioner to act unprofessionally, but responsibility for your clinical decisions and for advertising your services still rests with you. Our advertising course explains who is responsible for what.

Hygienists, therapists and oral health therapists

Independent practice is now common. Clear referral pathways, documented scope decisions and honest descriptions of your profession in advertising are the core protections.

Dental prosthetists

Prosthetists work directly with patients and must recognise oral conditions that need referral. The dental professionalism course includes a case where a prosthetist identifies a learning need in oral examination and referral, completes relevant clinical CPD and reviews referral outcomes six months later.

Practice owners

Owners set the systems for infection control, records, advertising and fees that everyone else works within. A team licence gives the whole practice the same reference point.