High-quality dental patient management demands an appropriately skilled team. It is the general dental practitioner's responsibility to coordinate the team and to take overall responsibility as the team leader. This book describes how to build a team that provides all the specialties necessary to achieve a stable, functional, esthetic masticatory unit, which not only encompasses the management of periodontal disease, but integrates a treatment plan the patient can maintain.

ISBN: 1-85097-063-7
978-1-85097-063-7 , 9781850970637

172 pp; 144 illus

Contents

Chapter 1 The Periodontal Team
Chapter 2 Medicolegal Aspects of Employing Professionals Complementary to Dentistry
Chapter 3 Working Together
Chapter 4 Selecting Surgery Equipment for the Dental Hygienist
Chapter 5 Prevention of Oral Disease I: Periodontal Disease
Chapter 6 Prevention of Oral Disease II: Diseases of the Hard Tissues
Chapter 7 Management of Periodontal Diseases
Chapter 8 Orthodontics and Periodontal Health
Chapter 9 Occlusion of Relation to Periodontal Disease
Chapter 10 Periodontal-Restorative Interface
Index

Preface

In order for the dental profession to deliver high quality care for patients, an appropriately skilled team is required. Within recent years the General Dental Council specialist lists have been established and the number of registered dental hygienists has increased. Many general dental practitioners are now in a position to select the most appropriate skilled personnel for specific phases of patient management.

For the care plan to be successful, the patient must be educated about the role each member of the team will take in his or her management. It is the general dental practitioner's responsibility to co-ordinate the team and take overall responsibility as the team leader. He or she also has a legal responsibility for procedures delegated to team members who are not registered dentists. It is a professional requirement of each dentist to delegate to professionals complementary to dentistry (PCDs) only those tasks which the person concerned is trained and competent to undertake. Competence implies not only the legal qualification to perform a skilled procedure but the ability to perform that skill to a recognised professional standard without supervision. Members of the team who have not had the opportunity to practise a procedure regularly will become “de-skilled”. General dental practitioners therefore need to be mindful of competence before delegating tasks and to support the continual professional development (CPD) of their team.

The overall treatment plan should not only encompass the management of the periodontal disease, but the integration of other specialties in order to achieve a stable, functional, aesthetic masticatory unit, which the patient can maintain. This book will guide the general dental practitioner through the decision-making process for the periodontal team.

This book can be read separately from the other four in the periodontal series. However, reference will be made to the other books, as the series is designed to develop certain aspects and concepts and to reinforce these throughout the process.

© 2003