Presentations 2020: Restorative

447 - Average working length - a service evaluation into visits required for DCT endodontic treatment

S Ghafoor, M Locke
Presented by: Saiba Ghafoor
Cardiff Dental Hospital

Introduction: Endodontics represents the largest referral base to the Department of Restorative Dentistry. Following vetted referral, patients are seen on a consultant led new patient clinic and if suitable for treatment, the majority of endodontic procedures are undertaken by DCT staff. Inevitably there are significant waiting lists at each of these stages. Endodontic treatments can require several sessions, often beyond what was predicted at the consultation appointment. Initial assessing restorability of the tooth, as well as coronal restoration requirement can further extend treatment time. This results in longer treatment waiting times, increased costs and a potential mismatch between sessions pre-booked and the number required. Methods: A retrospective local service evaluation involving 50 patients, whose treatment was completed between January 2019 and March 2020. A data collection sheet was used to obtain which teeth were treated and whether this was primary or secondary root treatment. Excluding failed and cancelled appointments; the number of visits to complete treatment to end point was recorded, divided into i) assessing restorability ii) root treatment provision iii) coronal restoration iv) short term review. Other information collected was waiting time from consultation appointment to treatment, visits requiring help from a senior staff member and number of visitations that required use of endodontic instrumentation. Results: Data collection is on-going, however preliminary findings indicate that on average 3.9 visits are needed to complete treatment, with a range between 1-7 appointments and patients waiting an average of 4.5 months for their first appointment. An average of 80% of cases needed help from a senior staff member during at least one visit. Conclusion: The large variation in number of appointments required to complete treatment may indicate further curriculum training needs and opportunity to refine triaging of treatment by complexity.
Consent Statement: There are no details on individual patients reported within the abstract.

Video