Your Registration. Your Responsibility.
Lets discuss…
There’s a quiet tension running through a lot of dental and oral health workplaces right now. You’ll hear it in staff rooms, at conferences, on socials. It sounds like: “My employer handles my CPD” or “You don’t need a course for that, I’ll show you”or “That’s within your scope, you’re fine.”
And look, most of the time these comments come from a good place. A busy colleague trying to help, a practice owner trying to keep things moving, a senior clinician who genuinely believes what they’re saying. But good intentions don’t change the facts, and the facts are pretty clear: your registration is yours. Your scope of practice is yours. And your CPD obligations? Also yours. That’s not a technicality, it’s the foundation of your professional autonomy, and in a profession that’s changing fast, it matters more than ever.
CPD: Know Your Numbers
Let’s start with CPD, because this is where a lot of practitioners are more exposed than they realise.
Ahpra’s CPD requirements aren’t a suggestion; they’re a registration standard. Under the Dental Board of Australia, every registered dental practitioner must complete 60 hours of CPD over each three-year registration period. That breaks down into 50 hours of scientific CPD, things directly related to clinical practice, evidence-based care, and the technical aspects of your work; and 10 hours of non-scientific CPD, which covers areas like practice management, communication skills, and leadership development.
The good news is the Board doesn’t prescribe exactly how you do it. Conferences, online modules, hands-on workshops, journal-based learning, peer review activities: it all counts, provided it’s relevant to your practice and properly documented. There’s genuine flexibility there, which is great.
But here’s the part that often gets missed: even if your employer books you into a study day every year, you are still responsible for tracking your own hours, assessing the relevance of what you’re completing, and making sure you hit that 60-hour threshold across the full three-year cycle. Your employer organising something for you does not transfer the obligation. This is a lifelong career commitment, and it sits with you. Not your practice manager, not your principal dentist, not anyone else.
If you don’t already have a system for tracking your CPD hours, start one today. It doesn’t need to be complicated. A simple spreadsheet will do the job. What matters is that you know where you stand at any given point in your registration cycle, and that you’re not scrambling in the final months to make up a shortfall.
Scope of Practice: This One’s On You
This is where things get a little more uncomfortable, and where a lot of practitioners quietly underestimate their own professional responsibilities.
Your scope of practice, as an OHT, dental therapist, or dental hygienist, is defined by your registration, your training, and your competency. Not your employment contract. Not a practice owner’s preference. Not a supervising dentist’s confidence. The Dental Board is explicit on this: you must only practise within your competence and the scope permitted by your registration. Full stop.
What that means in practice is this: you cannot be directed to perform a procedure you’re not trained for or registered to provide. And if someone tries (regardless of their seniority, regardless of how casually it’s suggested) you have both the right and the professional obligation to decline. That applies whether you’re employed or working as an independent contractor.
One of the more uncomfortable realities in this profession is that scope violations often happen not through deliberate pressure, but because a practitioner was told by someone they trusted that a particular procedure was fine. A colleague. A supervising dentist. A senior clinician with decades of experience. And the practitioner, reasonably enough, took them at their word.
Here’s the hard truth: verbal reassurance from another health practitioner is not authorisation. However well-meaning, however senior, however confident, it doesn’t protect your registration. If something goes wrong, if a patient experiences an adverse outcome and an AHPRA notification follows, you will be asked about your scope of practice and your clinical competency. The fact that someone else told you it was okay will not be a sufficient answer. Your hands, your treatment, your responsibility.
Socials Are Not a Scope of Resource
This needs to be said plainly, because it’s become a real issue: Facebook groups, Instagram comments, Reddit threads and online forums are not appropriate places to seek guidance on your scope of practice.
It happens all the time. A practitioner faces an unfamiliar clinical situation, jumps into a professional Facebook group, and asks whether a particular procedure is within their scope. Within minutes there are a dozen replies. Some saying yes, some saying no, a few citing what they were taught, someone else sharing what their practice allows. The practitioner picks the answer that feels right and moves on.
This is a genuinely risky way to practise, and it’s worth understanding why.
Social media operates on confidence, not authority. The person replying most assertively may be wrong. They may be practising in a different state, under different legislative requirements. They may be working from outdated training, their employer’s interpretation, or simply their own assumption. They are not the Dental Board. They are not your indemnity insurer. And they will not be the one standing in front of AHPRA if something goes wrong. You will.
The same applies to scope of practice content shared more broadly online. A well-produced Instagram reel, a confident LinkedIn post, a popular podcast episode; none of these are regulatory documents. They may be well-intentioned and largely accurate, but they are not authoritative, and acting on them without verifying against actual registration standards is a risk you simply shouldn’t take.
This isn’t about dismissing the value of professional community online, those spaces offer real connection, peer support and shared experience, and that genuinely matters. The distinction is this: discussion is not guidance. Community is not authorisation. When a question could affect your registration, your patient’s safety, or your legal standing, the only acceptable sources are the Dental Board of Australia’s registration standards and guidelines, your relevant state-based dental legislation, and your professional association’s formal advice.
If you’re unsure, pick up the phone. The Oral Health Association of Australia (OHAA) exists to support you with exactly these questions. That’s what your membership is for. Use it. And if you’ve done the work, checked the authoritative sources, and you’re confident a procedure is within your scope, don’t stop there. Contact your indemnity provider and confirm that what you’re performing as an independent practitioner is actually covered under your policy. Scope and insurance need to align, and you need that confirmation in writing, not just an assumption.
Contracting? You’re Running a Business
Since 1 July 2020, increasing numbers of OHTs, dental therapists and hygienists have been working as independent contractors. The expanded scope of practice registration review made this possible, and it opened up genuine benefits: flexibility, autonomy, the ability to work across multiple practices and build something of your own.
But with those benefits come responsibilities that aren’t always well understood, and it’s worth being direct about them.
If you’re contracting, your professional obligations don’t change. Ahpra requirements, Dental Board standards, and your ethical duties apply in exactly the same way as they do for employed practitioners. A practice cannot impose restrictions that effectively turn your contractor arrangement into an employment relationship, or that limit your ability to practise lawfully within your trained scope. Reasonable workplace protocols; infection control, clinical governance, practice workflows are appropriate and expected. But those are not the same as your scope of practice, and knowing where one ends and the other begins is essential.
Your CPD, your indemnity insurance, your tax obligations, your income protection, your superannuation: all of it is yours to manage. You are running a business. The sooner you approach it that way, the better positioned you’ll be, professionally and financially.
Indemnity Insurance: Don’t Assume You’re Covered
Speaking of insurance, having a policy and having adequate cover are two very different things, and the gap between them is where practitioners get seriously caught out.
Ask yourself honestly: does your current policy cover all the settings you work in? All the clinical procedures you’re performing? Does your insurer need to be notified when your scope or place of practice changes? These aren’t rhetorical questions. They have real answers, and you need to know them.
If you believe a procedure is within your scope, make sure your insurance reflects that. Contact your indemnity provider directly, tell them specifically what you’re performing as an independent practitioner, and get confirmation that you’re covered. Don’t assume. Most indemnity policies contain clauses that void cover when a practitioner operates outside their registered scope, which is exactly why the scope conversation and the insurance conversation are completely inseparable.
A claim arising from a procedure you weren’t authorised, or weren’t insured, to perform may not be covered at all. That leaves you personally exposed to legal and regulatory consequences that can be devastating, professionally and financially. If you have any doubt about the adequacy of your cover, speak to your professional association and contact your insurer directly. Now is a great time to do this, insurance renewal is just around the corner. Don’t wait until you need to make a claim.
This Is Your Career — Own It
The oral health workforce in Australia is evolving. OHTs, dental therapists and hygienists are increasingly recognised for the full breadth of their training, scope of practice conversations are happening at state and national levels, and the profession is genuinely moving forward. That’s exciting, and you’re part of it.
But that progress comes with responsibility. Practitioners who understand their scope, know their professional rights, stay current with their CPD, and make sure they’re properly insured are the ones who will build careers that are sustainable, rewarding and genuinely autonomous. Practitioners who rely on word of mouth, Facebook groups, and assumptions are the ones who find themselves in difficult situations they didn’t see coming.
Scope of practice, CPD and indemnity insurance aren’t just compliance requirements. They are the professional and legal foundations that allow you to practise. Managed well, they’re an investment in your career, your reputation and your ongoing clinical competency. That investment starts with you taking ownership of all of it.
Know your scope. Verify it through authoritative sources. Keep your CPD on track. Make sure your insurance actually covers what you’re doing. And when you have a question that matters, ask someone who is qualified and accountable to give you a proper answer.
As of 1 July 2020, you have independent dental practitioner rights. That’s a significant achievement for this profession. Treat it with the seriousness it deserves. And remember, the buck stops with you.
