VICTORIA: Hong Kong will allow non-locally trained dentists to work in the city from January 1 next year to meet rising demand, the government has announced.
Starting on New Year’s Eve, qualified overseas dentists may receive limited registration or a specialist license to practise in Hong Kong under the amended Dentists Registration Ordinance approved by the legislature in July, the government said.
The new registration pathways would be available to non-locally trained dentists who were selected for full-time employment in specified institutions, such as the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority, the University of Hong Kong and the Prince Philip Dental Hospital. The registration would be granted by the Dental Council of Hong Kong.
Overseas dentists who have worked in a specified institution for at least five years with satisfactory service would become eligible to apply for transferring to a full registration. Those who had limited registration must take the clinical part of the council’s licensing examination. For dentists with a special registration, the licensing body would consider each case and decide if the practitioner needed to take the test.
With full registration, the non-locally trained dentists may practise in any institution in the city.
“[The Department of Health] has already launched recruitment exercises while working closely with the [Dental Council of Hong Kong] in a bid to enable the first batch of non-locally trained dentists to come to Hong Kong in the first quarter of next year to serve the public,” the government statement read.
For overseas dental professionals who wanted to conduct clinical teaching or research in Hong Kong, a temporary registration mechanism would also be introduced on January 1, 2025 for them to work in the city for no more than two weeks. This license could not lead to full registration, the government said.
The government said the amended ordinance also provided a clearer definition of “practising dentistry.” It is a criminal offence for anyone to carry out dental bleaching or teeth whitening, prescribe teeth aligner or conduct teeth veneering without a licence. Offenders can face a maximum HK$100,000 fine and three years in prison.
In July, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the city’s dental profession had been hit by a labour shortage, particularly in the public sector. As of July 1, there were 110 vacancies in the 370 positions for dentists under the Department of Health, he told the Legislative Council. A projected retirement wave in the coming years could also widen the shortage.
Dentists with at least one year of post-qualification clinical experience are preferred for roles in public dental services. There is no specific restriction regarding the country of qualification, meaning dentists from any country are theoretically eligible if they meet the criteria.
