Falling inline with the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the GDC have now issued guidelines against remote prescribing of Botox by dentists.

In fact, the statement issued in October forebade remote prescribing for the provision of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in any form. The prescription or administration of Botox or injectable cosmetic medicinal products falls under this category.

Until this stage, whilst reputable organisations and training centres like Cosmetic Courses would have generally advised against dentists becoming involved in such practices, there was grey area as to whether their counselling body specifically ruled against remote prescribing or not.

As such, concerns had arisen that some registrants may be using remote prescribing inappropriately. There have also been reports of networks of dental clinics which have started offering aesthetic treatments (Botox and dermal fillers etc.) with aesthetic nurses obtaining their product under the remote prescription of particular dentists: this will now have to be re-evaluated as all patients being treated with the product require consultation with the actual practitioner providing the prescription.

If you need advice about remote prescribing, your eligibility to obtain product after training or about Botox training in general, Cosmetic Courses will be delighted to help. We have a number of Botox training courses for dentists and can advise about how the GDC announcement may effect you and your clinic. Simply call 0845 230 4110.