British Dental Association
 |
|
| Abbreviation | BDA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1880 |
| Type | Professional body |
| Legal status | Non-profit company, Special register body and registered charity |
| Purpose | Dentistry in the United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Wimpole Street, London, W1 |
|
Region served
|
United Kingdom |
|
Chief executive
|
Peter Ward |
|
Main organ
|
BDA Principal Executive Committee |
| Website | www |
The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association and registered trade union organisation for dentists in the United Kingdom.
Its stated mission is to "promote the interests of members, advance the science, arts and ethics of dentistry and improve the nation’s oral health."
The BDA is not the regulatory body for dentists in the United Kingdom. Dentists are regulated by the General Dental Council.
The majority of the BDA’s 22,000 members are family dentists, working in general practice providing both National Health Service (NHS) and private care. BDA members also work in community and hospital settings, universities and the British armed forces.
The BDA’s headquarters is in Wimpole Street, London near Queen's College, London in the City of Westminster and it currently has offices in Stirling, Scotland, Belfast, Northern Ireland and Cardiff, Wales.
By the 1870s leading dentists including Sir John Tomes and Sir Edwin Saunders (one of Queen Victoria’s dentists) formed the Dental Reform Committee, to help bring unity, organisation and code of ethics to the dental profession. This Committee campaigned successfully for the first legislation to regulate dentistry, the Dentists Act, 1878 which limited the title of "dentist" and "dental surgeon" to registered practitioners. Qualified practitioners and those who could show they had practised dentistry for five years prior to 1878 were the only ones eligible to register.
The Dental Reform Committee called for a nationwide meeting to establish the BDA in 1879. Finally established in 1880 the BDA elected Sir John Tomes as its first President. Much of the BDA’s early work involved prosecuting dentists in breach of the Dentists Act.
The Dentists Act of 1921 created the Dental Board of the UK to administer the Dentists Register. Thus the BDA was freed from legislation, and rapidly emerged as the leading consultative body and voice for the dental profession.
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Wikipedia