Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
Third Regular Season

HOUSE BILL NO. _____

Introduced by Rep. ___________

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The identification of persons is a necessary factor in solving crimes and in

settling certain disputes such as claims for damages, insurance, and inheritance. In
those cases where the identification of persons cannot be established through the
regular means, identification through definition has been proven to be necessary and
effective. However, records of dentition of persons are often not available due to the
lack of systematic recording by dental practitioners of the dental history of their
patients.
Despite prior existence of a decree requiring dentists to keep transmit records
of their patients to the NBI there has been poor compliance.1 RA 4419 and 768
expanded the team dental team and created two regulated professions: dental
hygienist and dental technologist.

Rep. _________________________

1
Sec. Leila de Lima, 2013
 AN ACT AMENDING THE DECREE REQUIRING PRACTITIONERS OF
DENTISTRY TO KEEP RECORDS OF THEIR PATIENTS

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in

Congress assembled:

SEC. 1. Title of PD 1575, otherwise known as the Presidential Decree

Requiring Practitioners of Dentistry to Keep Records of their Patients is amended, is
hereby amended to read as follows:

Requiring Dentist, Dental Hygienist and Dental Technologist to Keep

Records of their Patients

SEC. 2. Sec 1 of PD 1575, otherwise known as the Presidential Decree

Requiring Practitioners of Dentistry to Keep Records of their Patients is amended, is
hereby amended to read as follows:

It shall be obligatory upon dentists, dental hygienists and dental

technologist to keep and maintain an accurate and complete record of the
dentition of all their patients which shall include a history and description of the
patient's dentition and the treatments made thereon.

Dental records should indicate the identifying details of the patient, date
of visit/s, identifying details of the practitioner providing the treatment and
information about the type of examination. If the records are handwritten it
should be reasonably legible and if it is in digital form, it should be printed onto
paper with the date of printing indicated and it should be reasonably legible.
Radiographs, photographs, stone casts and other relavant diagnostic data
should be included. Digital information, including digital radiograph and CAD-
CAM restoration file must be readily transferable and available in high definition
digital.

SEC. 3. Section 2 of PD 1575, otherwise known as the Presidential Decree

Requiring Practitioners of Dentistry to keep Records of their patients is amended, is
hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 2. Upon the lapse of ten years from the last entry, dental
practitioners shall turn over the dental records of their patients to the National
Bureau of Investigation for record purposes: Provided, that the said practitioners
may retain copies thereof for their own files.

Privacy laws regulate the collection, use, disclosure, security and

retention of personal information. 2

SEC. 4. Section 3 of PD 1575, otherwise known as the Presidential Decree

Requiring Practitioners of Dentistry to keep Records of their patients is amended, is
hereby amended to read as follows:

2
Taken from Australian Dental Association Policy Statement, it seems important, but
I dont know where to find Philippine Privacy Laws.
 Section 3. Any violation of the provisions of this Decree shall be
punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred pesos nor more than one
thousand pesos.3

SEC. 5. Separability Clause If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid or

unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall
remain valid and subsisting.

SEC. 6. Repealing Clause. All other laws, decrees, orders, rules and
regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 7. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

3
The fine should be increased to encourage compliance.
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 1575

REQUIRING PRACTITIONERS OF DENTISTRY TO KEEP RECORDS OF THEIR

PATIENTS

WHEREAS, the identification of persons is a necessary factor in solving crimes and

in settling certain disputes such as claims for damages, insurance, and inheritance;

WHEREAS, in those cases where the identification of persons cannot be established

through the regular means, identification through definition has been proven to be
necessary and effective;

WHEREAS, however, records of dentition of persons are often not available due to
the lack of systematic recording by dental practitioners of the dental history of their
patients.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by

virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree the
following:

Section 1. It shall be obligatory upon all practitioners of dentistry to keep and

maintain an accurate and complete record of the dentition of all their patients which
shall include a history and description of the patient's dentition and the treatments
made thereon.

Section 2. Upon the lapse of ten years from the last entry, dental practitioners shall
turn over the dental records of their patients to the National Bureau of Investigation
for record purposes: Provided, that the said practitioners may retain copies thereof
for their own files.

Section 3. Any violation of the provisions of this Decree shall be punishable by a fine
of not less than one hundred pesos nor more than one thousand pesos.

Section 4. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 11th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen
hundred and seventy-eight.