The history, evolution and current configuration of the Practical Guides

Previously in the News Bulletin, we have reported that a number of the Practical Guides had been retired with the exception of:

- ADA Guidelines for dental mercury hygiene;

- Guidelines for the fabrication, use and maintenance of sports mouthguards;

- Practical guide to dental radiology; and

- Guidelines for infection prevention and control.

The original Practical Guides to Successful Dentistry were one-page guides to the use of the common dental materials of that time, such as silicate cement, amalgam, casting alloys, gypsum products and radiographic film, and mailed to dentists on request. The recently withdrawn Guides were produced in 1961 by the Australian Dental Standards Laboratory (ADSL) in Melbourne – a Commonwealth government laboratory established in 1938 for the testing, research and standards development on dental products1 – and were translated into Spanish and Japanese in 1966. In 1982, Dr Derrick Beech (the then Director of ADSL and Consultant to the TIME (now DIME) Committee, and the late Professor Henry Atkinson MBE, negotiated with the ADA to update the Guides, add new Guides and mail the set to all members as a membership benefit.

Over the years, the number of Guides had reached 30 and it was decided, in 2011, to make the Guides available only electronically on the Association’s website, which facilitated regular updating of individual Guides. Editorial oversight of the Guides was the responsibility of Professors John Harcourt OAM and Martin Tyas AM.

In recent years it has become evident that member utilisation of the Guides has been diminishing, such that an analysis of downloads over a seven-month period during 2019-2020 showed that the average number of downloads per Guide was in the order of only four or five per month. 

There may be several reasons for this, including that dental materials and equipment have become more complex, and a 'generic' guide is not applicable. In addition, most dental products comply with the relevant international standard and are regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which requires product-specific directions for use and which are readily available with the product and on manufacturers’ websites. Many dental materials books and journal publications are now available online to members, and there are numerous authoritative websites which explain the use of dental products in detail.

As mentioned earlier, one of the guides that was retained was the Guidelines for the fabrication, use and maintenance of sports mouthguards, and recently one of the original authors, Dr Brett Dorney, has reviewed and updated the guide to the fourth edition. 

If you feel that there would be value in developing a guide, please email contact@ada.org.au and let us know.