RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The East of England dental trauma service
JF BMJ Leader
JO BMJ Leader
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP leader-2021-000567
DO 10.1136/leader-2021-000567
A1 Danielle Brown
A1 Issar Hussain
A1 Veni Cochrane
A1 Nick Barker
YR 2022
UL http://bmjleader.bmj.com/content/early/2022/02/21/leader-2021-000567.abstract
AB Background Current evidence suggests traumatic dental injuries can be difficult to manage in primary care due to uncommon occurrence and challenging patient presentations. Such factors may contribute to general dental practitioners lacking experience and confidence in the assessment, treatment and management of traumatic dental injuries. Furthermore, there are anecdotal accounts of patients presenting to accident and emergency (A&E) services with a traumatic dental injury, which could be placing avoidable strain on secondary care services. For these reasons, a novel primary care-led dental trauma service has been established in the East of England.Methods This brief report shares our experiences of establishing this dental trauma service, titled ‘Think T’s’. It aims to provide effective trauma care across an entire region by a dedicated team of experienced clinicians from primary care settings to reduce inappropriate attendance to secondary care services and upskill colleagues in dental traumatology.Findings and conclusions Since its inception, the dental trauma service has been public-facing and has managed referrals from a range of sources which include general medical practitioners, A&E clinicians and ambulance services. The service has been well received and has been seeking to integrate with the Directory of Services as well as NHS 111.