Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

brook2jack

Teethwhiteninguk wrote: »

Trading Standards should know if a business is trading illegally and as the practice of teeth whitening is allegedly illegal by non dentists, this does not make sense

This is because the GDC not trading standards are charged BY LAW with protecting the public from illegal dentistry. They are the body that prosecutes illegal whiteners, and they were charged by statute with this duty precisely because they have access to the expertise that trading standards do not. The same way it is customs and excise who have the duty to prosecute for infringements in custom and excise because they have the expert knowledge and powers trading standards do not.

brook2jack

Teethwhiteninguk wrote: »

My friend was not informed her tooth whitening was illegal when it was delivered by her dentist before 31/10/2012. When I told her she was quite shocked. I am sure most members of the public would be too. Award winning dentists have confessed to this on the WWW. This is a fact.

Vigilantism is not popular in the UK and some people need to take care with what they say and do on the WWW.

Indeed the situation with dentists and tooth whitening was confused with

new regulation which was why tooth whitening supplies were withdrawn from the market, dentists stopped providing it and dental protection societies stopped providing cover for a while.

However after negotiations with trading standards , dentists alone were allowed to reintroduce tooth whitening. http://www.mddus.com/mddus/news-and-media/news/june-2011/row-over-teeth-whitening-resolved.aspx

However illegal whiteners continued all this time and illegal suppliers of whitening chemicals because they are not regulated, and were happy to continue putting people at risk, until prosecuted.

Teethwhiteninguk

I have no qualms with people taking the proper action to prevent illegal practices, however no Action or vigilante group has the the legal right to harass any business by posting on their Facebook pages, taking photographs and make spurious allegations and comments.

The GDC should not be sending random threatening letters through the letter box of businesses.

No-on has the right to make spurious allegations in letters to Trading standards. I would be very surprised if they acted on these malicious letters unless there was actual evidence of wrong doing and not speculation. I would be interested to see any replies received. I have never even heard of 9% sodium perporate.

Can you imagine if the police popped a letter box through your door saying you were breaking the law, but without any proof that you were doing so. The public would be quite shocked that a statutory authority behaved in this manner.

As one lawyer advised a person running a teeth whitening business:

"You can carry on trading, but please note that it does not make you immune from potential prosecution if TS or the GDC believe you are not acting within the current regulations. Of course if that was to happen, you will have the chance to defend yourself."

This applies to every business not just teeth whitening.

Thousands of people break the law daily, by speeding and potentially killing others as well as using their mobile phones, but we do not see a vigilante group in operation to report people doing these far more serious illegal acts.

The British are a fair minded and moderate society and I for one am not impressed by what I see and hence my interest. There is extremist behaviour in every society, but one does not expect it from the medical profession.

Teethwhiteninguk

brook2jack wrote: »

This is because the GDC not trading standards are charged BY LAW with protecting the public from illegal dentistry. They are the body that prosecutes illegal whiteners, and they were charged by statute with this duty precisely because they have access to the expertise that trading standards do not. The same way it is customs and excise who have the duty to prosecute for infringements in custom and excise because they have the expert knowledge and powers trading standards do not.

.

This still does not make sense. I would expect customs and excise to report any illegal activity outside their expertise. I have seen this happen on various TV documentaries.

The GDC are clearly stating on their website "all tooth whitening is the practice of Dentistry" and in their opinion illegal"...Hmm.

This simply cannot be the case. If someone purports to be dentist or crosses the line in giving advice etc., then this is, I believe the practice of dentistry.

As one barrister said "this situation needs be resolved". This means it is still a grey area and no-one on this site or any other should be claiming they know the correct legal position.

The uses of cosmetic products and who can use them is clearly defined and unambiguous. The definition of a cosmetic and who use them is also very clearly defined. This includes tooth whitening products for non-dentists

As one lawyers has stated: The law is that non-registrants must not practice dentistry. However, the law does not define clearly what dentistry is!

brook2jack

If the GDC has been charged by law with protecting the public , and it is its legal duty to prosecute people carrying out illegal practice of dentistry then of course it must act.

Indeed 75% of the public in a survey believes that illegal whiteners (non dentists) should be prosecuted.

Surely public safety comes before business interests? Babtac and Habia who represent the beauty industry have said they do not believe non dentists should carry out tooth whitening, and Babtac reported over eighty cases of non dentists being sued for damage after whitening by non dentists.

Again if anyone is aware of non dentists carrying out illegal whitening or has been harmed or if you are considering tooth whitening then please read http://www.gdc-uk.org/Membersofpublic/Illegalpractice/Pages/Tooth-whitening.aspx

brook2jack

I would think the multiple prosecutions of illegal whiteners by the GDC for illegal practice of dentistry is plenty of case law.

The courts certainly have no problem with the GDC prosecutions.

Teethwhiteninguk

At the sake of repeating myself for the 'umteenth' time, I agree, any illegal activity needs to reported, but in the appropriate way.

What I still fail to understand is why TS are agreeing with the non-dentists. They are a statutory authority and should know if a business is potentially trading illegally.

My next post will explain why there is still confusion.

Teethwhiteninguk

brook2jack wrote: »

I would think the multiple prosecutions of illegal whiteners by the GDC for illegal practice of dentistry is plenty of case law.

The courts certainly have no problem with the GDC prosecutions.

But not everyone is operating in the same way. Nearly every business breaks the law wittingly or unwittingly: H&S regs, tax offenses etc. But not all are operating illegally.

Teethwhiteninguk

Furthermore, a well known national teeth whitening chain was investigated by the GDC and they were not prosecuted. No doubt they had good legal representation.

Confused!?

brook2jack

Teethwhiteninguk wrote: »

But not everyone is operating in the same way. Nearly every business breaks the law wittingly or unwittingly: H&S regs, tax offenses etc. But not all are operating illegally.

I find this statement incredible. Any business breaking e.g. health and safety laws is putting its workers and potentially its customers at risk. How can anyone think that is acceptable?

How can someone defend people being harmed because it is standard business practice?