Paediatric Dentists in Private Practice
Around half of the registered specialists in Paediatric Dentistry in Hong Kong are working in private practice. The majority of the patients treated by this group of paediatric dentists are young children who are not yet eligible for the Government subsidised dental service. Thus these patients have to receive dental care provided by the private paediatric dentists.
Another group of patients that are often treated by paediatric dentists in private practice are those with special needs. These patients may be suffering from complex medical problems, autism, syndromes and mentally or physically disabled.
When patients are not able to cooperate under routine dental settings, treatments have to be provided under sedation, for example, inhalation sedation by nitrous oxide (laughing gas), monitored anaesthetic care (MAC) in dental office or general anaesthesia (GA) in private hospitals.
Starting from 2018, after the Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance (Cap. 633) (the Ordinance) was gazetted in Hong Kong, all private dental practices have to be registered in the Government’s Private Healthcare Facility (PHF) register. All patients who need office sedation / deep sedation such as MAC must be treated in dental offices registered as day procedure centres (DPCs).
Day procedure centres (DPCs) are premises that do not form part of the premises of a hospital, and that are used, or intended to be used, for carrying out high-risk procedures. Anaesthetic care in dental offices falls into this high-risk medical procedure category. Dental offices licensed as DPCs have to undergo regular annual inspection by the Department of Health, HKSAR. DPCs also need to follow strict regulations for their daily operations and infection control procedures. All private dental practices with a DPC license in Hong Kong can be searched and located in the PHF register.
For children suffering from severe dental diseases with complex medical problems or seriously disabled, they may need to have comprehensive dental treatment in private hospitals under GA by paediatric dental specialists.
Practising registered Specialist in Paediatric Dentistry in Hong Kong can be found on the list of Specialist in Paediatric Dentistry provided by the Dental Council of Hong Kong.
Paediatric dentists who have completed the approved rigorous training and prescribed examinations and obtained the Fellowships and Memberships offered by the College of Dental Surgeons of Hong Kong (CDSHK) and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (HKAM) can be found on the list of Fellows on CDSHK website.