The British Dental Association (BDA) is urging dentists, Trading Standards officials, and the General Dental Council (GDC) to join forces to put an end to teeth-whitening treatments being supplied illegally by nonqualified individuals.
The call coincides with a new directive on teeth-whitening products in the U.K. that takes effect October 31. The new regulations are a result of the European Council's amendment last September to its Directive on Cosmetics Products (76/768/EEC), which gave European Union member states 12 months to implement corresponding legislation.
The new law increases the percentage of hydrogen peroxide allowed in teeth-whitening or bleaching products to 6%, subject to certain conditions; however, these whitening products can only be sold to dentists.
Even so, the BDA is concerned that some individuals might also choose to flout the legal position on the supply of products and is calling on dentists to be vigilant and report nondentists offering teeth whitening to both their local Trading Standards department and the GDC.
"The transposition of the European Directive into U.K. law makes possible a new era of patient safety in tooth whitening," said Stuart Johnston, BDS, a member of the BDA's Principal Executive Committee and chair of the Council of European Dentists' working group on whitening products, in a BDA press release. "We must now make that possibility a reality. Dentists must be diligent in reporting any nondentists performing whitening, and Trading Standards and the GDC must put safety first and take action to protect the public. It is time to put an end to unsafe, illegal whitening."
