The deadline has passed: Is your NSW dental practice compliant?

If you operate a dental practice in New South Wales and hold a Radiation Management Licence, there is an important question you should be able to answer today:

Do you have a Radiation Management Plan in place?

➡️ From 1 September 2026, NSW Radiation Management Licence holders must have a Radiation Management Plan (RMP) prepared and implemented.

➡️ This is no longer an upcoming change or something to put on the compliance list for later. If your practice does not yet have an RMP in place, it needs your attention now.

➡️ The good news is that getting compliant is entirely achievable.

What do you actually need to do?

An RMP is essentially your practice’s radiation safety playbook. It documents how radiation safety is managed in your clinic and brings together important information relating to your X-ray equipment, licensing, compliance certification, shielding, quality assurance, staff responsibilities, training and incident procedures.

You do not need to submit the plan to the NSW EPA for approval unless directed to do so. However, it must be readily available to radiation users and occupationally exposed staff, and it should accurately reflect your current arrangements.

That last point matters. An RMP is not a document you prepare once and forget about. It needs to stay current as your practice changes.

If X-ray equipment is installed, replaced, relocated or decommissioned, or if there are relevant changes to your premises, shielding, staffing or radiation safety processes, the plan should be reviewed and updated accordingly.

Ultimately, the purpose of an RMP is not simply to satisfy a licence condition. It is the framework that helps ensure radiation is used safely and responsibly in your practice, unnecessary exposure is minimised, and your patients, staff and the public are properly protected.

Don’t have one yet? Start now.

You can prepare the plan yourself. The NSW EPA provides a template that dental practices can use as a starting point. For practices with good radiation compliance records and documentation already in order, this may be a perfectly practical approach.

Alternatively, if you do not have the time or confidence to prepare it yourself, Gamma Tech can prepare the RMP on your behalf. We collect the relevant information and existing compliance documentation from your practice and develop a plan tailored to your equipment, premises, team, and processes, ready for implementation.

Either way, the important part is to get it done.

Preparing an RMP can also be a useful radiation compliance health check. Once you start gathering your records in one place, you may discover that a compliance certificate is approaching its expiry date, shielding documentation cannot be located, equipment details have changed, or responsibilities within the practice are unclear.

That is exactly why the RMP is valuable. It turns radiation compliance from a collection of scattered documents into a clear, structured system for managing radiation safety.

Still confused by NSW radiation compliance?

If terms such as RML, RMP, CoC, and QA manual are starting to sound like alphabet soup, there is another resource available.

Gamma Tech has partnered with ADA NSW to develop a comprehensive online radiation compliance course specifically for dental professionals. Click hre to learn more.

The course breaks down NSW radiation regulations, explains what dental practices need to have in place, and guides you through the different elements of compliance step by step.

The aim is simple: to give practice owners, managers and dental professionals a clear roadmap for compliance, while helping them build the systems and knowledge needed to maintain a safe working environment.

The course is available free to ADA NSW members.

So, if your practice still does not have its Radiation Management Plan in place, make that the priority. And if you are unsure what the rest of your radiation compliance obligations actually are, take the course.

Radiation compliance does not need to be confusing. But now that the deadline has passed, it does need to be taken seriously.

Need help preparing your Radiation Management Plan? Contact our team at Gamma Tech.