We are pleased to announce that the CDSBC Board has elected public board member Mr. Carl Roy to serve as Board Chair. Carl assumes this position immediately, with a term end date of June 30, 2020.
Carl is the President & CEO of the Provincial Health Services Authority. He brings more than four decades of experience in the health sector, and has worked with multiple regulatory bodies throughout his career. He has a strong governance background and demonstrated success in improving board performance.
As Board Chair, Carl will lead the Board through a year of transition as CDSBC delivers on the many commitments in the Action Plan submission to the Minister of Health. He will work closely with the Board and with Registrar and CEO Dr. Chris Hacker to ensure CDSBC continues to improve our performance and culture in order to better serve patients and the public.
The amended CDSBC Bylaws provide for a new position of Board Chair who is elected from among the 12-member Board. The process for the Board to elect its first chair can be viewed here.
Additionally, CDSBC has fielded questions concerning CDAs and their ability to administer oxygen. The Restricted Activities [under 4 (1) (g) (v)] states 'only a registrant in the course of practising dentistry may administer a substance by inhalation' – as such, this means a CDA cannot provide oxygen to a patient.
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Registrants received an email blast earlier today containing important updates for those registrants and facilities administering sedation and general anaesthesia. If you or your dental facility currently administers minimal, oral or parenteral moderate, deep sedation or general anesthesia, please ensure you read the notice of the updates to ensure you understand how they relate to your practice.
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The Discipline Committee Panel hearing the Dr. Bin Xu case released its decision in June. Dr. Xu was registered with CDSBC as a general dentist who practised in Richmond, B.C., but failed to participate in the hearing. This did not change the College's obligation to prove the charges set out in the disciplinary citation.
A disciplinary citation was issued in September 2018 based on investigations by the College into complaints from 12 former patients of Dr. Xu. A discipline hearing was held in November 2018 regarding his conduct and competence, which addressed numerous allegations against Dr. Bin Xu.
Findings
The Discipline Panel considered evidence and submissions, including testimony from patients. It issued its decision on June 12, 2019.
The College submitted that Dr. Xu's patterns of recordkeeping inadequacies including diagnosis, treatment planning, and informed consent is serious enough to constitute professional misconduct, and that his failure to respond to the College also amounts to professional misconduct.
The Discipline Panel found a concerning pattern of deficiencies in the treatment Dr. Xu provided to his patients, and found he was practicing dentistry incompetently. The Discipline Panel found that:
"taken together, the issues with Dr. Xu's practice, including his practice of billing up front and not completing treatment, the fact that he took advantage of elderly and vulnerable patients and the nature of his dealing with both his patients and the College are very serious and crossed a serious ethical threshold."
Dr. Xu's conduct overall was characterized as professional misconduct.
The next stage in the discipline process is the penalty hearing. The penalty decision will be posted here once it becomes available.
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The College of Pharmacists of BC in conjunction with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC, the BC College of Nursing Professionals and the Ministry of Health, has been working on combining the duplicate methadone (MMT) prescription form and the duplicate controlled prescription form to simplify and streamline the prescribing of controlled drugs, specifically therapies for opioid agonist treatment (OAT). This change is intended to help provide clarity on and improve the prescribing of OAT prescriptions. It also aligns with the recent updates to the Provider Regulation under the Pharmaceutical Services Act.
Although dentists do not provide opioid agonist treatment, dentists who prescribe restricted drugs will be impacted by this because once the BC Controlled Prescription Form is approved by the Ministry of Health, it will replace duplicate prescription pads.
Feedback is being collected by the College of Pharmacists of BC. Please see the draft version of the form and provide any comments and suggested changes to communications@bcpharmacists.org by October 15, 2019.
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Notice of proposed amendments
Registrants were recently advised that the Ministry of Health has posted proposed amendments to the Dentists, Dental Hygienists, Denturists, and Dental Technicians Regulations. The proposed amendments are intended to better align these regulations to the Health Professions Act model and to standardize terms shared amongst the four regulations.
Read more about what these proposed changes mean for dentistry and how to provide comment with the Ministry at www.cdsbc.org/Pages/proposed-regulation-amendments.aspx
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The National Dental Examining Board is currently recruiting for the position of Director of Examinations. The position is based in Ottawa, Ontario.
The National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB) is responsible for establishing and maintaining a national standard of competence for dentists in Canada. Created by an Act of Parliament, NDEB is dedicated to supporting the health of Canadians by maintaining the national standards for general dentistry in Canada. NDEB develops and administers innovative, internationally-recognized examinations and assessments that are valid and reliable. Each year approximately 1000 dentists from Canada and around the world are certified through the NDEB's examination and assessment processes.
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Meetings of the CDSBC Board are open to registrants and the public.
The next meeting will be held:
Friday, November 15, 2019 at 8:30 am
Terminal City Club, "Skidmore Room", Level 2, 837 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.
If you wish to observe, please RSVP to Nancy Crosby, Manager of the CEO's Office, at ncrosby@cdsbc.org by 7 November.
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The office will be closed from Monday, October 14 for Thanksgiving Day. We will reopen at 8 am on Tuesday, October 15.
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This Contact News is distributed to registrants and stakeholders of the College of Dental Surgeons of BC. It is one of CDSBC's official methods of notification to its registrants. Registrants are responsible for reading College publications to ensure that they are aware of current standards, policies and guidelines. 
