Clause 29.—(USE BY DENTISTS OF TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS.) (Hansard, 26 January 1956)

§ Miss Hornsby-Smith
I beg to move, in page 23, to leave out lines 13 to 17.
The two subsequent Amendments on the Order Paper are consequential.
The Amendment has been put down to meet points raised in Committee by my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Sir H. Linstead). It was suggested that a matter of this kind, concerning foreign diplomas and additional diplomas to be entered in the register, should not be solely a decision for the registrar. It was said that there might be occasions when it would be an invidious and difficult decision to make. My hon. Friend suggested that it should be made by the 405 General Dental Council. That was felt to be too unwieldly a procedure. My right hon. Friend offered to look into the matter, and we believe that this Amendment is a practical compromise in that the registrar will be required to make his decision in consultation with the President of the General Dental Council before selecting the abbreviated form denoting an additional diploma to be entered in the General Dental Register.

§ Mr. Somerville Hastings (Barking)
Would the Minister be good enough to expand her explanation a little? I can see no reason for which a British or foreign dentist who has a medical qualification and proposes to practise as a dentist—as many do—should not make use of that qualification and register it. I cannot see what objection there can be. I recall that there was a good deal of discussion about it in Committee but I did not realise that a decision on these lines had been taken and I should be grateful if the Minister would explain to me a little more fully the reason for the decision which she now asks us to make.

§ Mr. Turton
I think that this point is clear. The effect of the Amendment is to leave out lines 13 to 17. This will put the position back to what it is under Section 4 of the Dentists Act, 1921. I remember those painful occasions when I have had to visit my dentist. He used to have, and I think he still has, a medical qualification which he advertises. He does that under Section 4 of the Dentists Act, 1921. That seems to be perfectly satisfactory.
I understand that there was a certain amount of argument between the two professions as to what was meant by the original words in Clause 29. I thought, in view of that, that the best thing was to leave the form of words which we have in Section 4 of the 1921 Act, which has always been perfectly clear and perfectly well understood. I hope that for these reasons the hon. Member for Barking (Mr. Hastings) will accept this minor Amendment, which I believe has the approval of both professional bodies.