A qualitative exploration of decisions about dental recall intervals. Part 1: attitudes of NHS general dental practitioners to NICE Guideline CG19 on the interval between oral health reviews

Scott, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2497-549X, Cope, A. L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3721-9455, Wood, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7397-4074, Joseph-Williams, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8944-2969, Karki, A., Roberts, E., Lovell-Smith, C. and Chestnutt, I. G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9228-800X 2022. A qualitative exploration of decisions about dental recall intervals. Part 1: attitudes of NHS general dental practitioners to NICE Guideline CG19 on the interval between oral health reviews. British Dental Journal 232 , pp. 327-331. 10.1038/s41415-022-3998-z

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (292kB) | Preview

Abstract

Introduction The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guideline CG19 recommends that the intervals between oral health reviews should be tailored to patients' disease risk. However, evidence suggests that most patients still attend at six-monthly intervals. Aim To explore facilitators and barriers to the implementation of CG19 in general dental practice. Methods Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 25 NHS general dental practitioners (GDPs) in Wales, UK. Transcripts were thematically analysed. Results Dentists described integrating information on clinical risk, patients' social and dental history, and professional judgement when making decisions about recall interval. Although most GDPs reported routinely using risk-based recall intervals, a number of barriers exist to recall intervals at the extremes of the NICE recommendations. Many practitioners were unwilling to extend recall intervals to 24 months, even for the lowest-risk patients. Conversely, dentists described how it could be challenging to secure the agreement of high-risk patients to three-month recalls. In addition, time and workload pressures, the need to meet contractual obligations, pressure from contracting organisations and the fear of litigation also influenced the implementation of risk-based recalls. Conclusions Although awareness of the NICE Guideline CG19 was high, there is a need to explore how risk-based recalls may be best supported through contractual mechanisms.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Dentistry Medicine
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:	0007-0610
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 May 2021
Date of Acceptance:	5 May 2021
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2023 21:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141535

Citation Data

Cited 1 time in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item