ABSTRACT
Hospital dentistry is provided for children with extreme dental requirements that are unable to be provided by the child's community dentist. However, there has been a dramatic increase in referrals to hospital dentistry, suggesting a rise in poor dental hygiene and a lack of prevention work. The project was undertaken within the paediatric dentistry unit of a university dental hospital (DH), providing both a secondary and tertiary referral centre within the north of England. Approximately 4,500 referrals are received per annum and 1,500 of these patients are subsequently referred to nearby children's hospital (CH) for dental treatment under general anaesthesia on a joint care pathway. Initial reluctance to complete outcome forms accurately was partially overcome by recruiting nurses' help to check the outcome codes on behalf of the dentist. Positive feedback from this intervention has encouraged greater numbers of outcome forms to be completed.
