Patients are becoming more knowledgeable and demanding of quality and access to a full range of treatment options. The quality of care that a dentist renders to a patient is often limited by his ability to make the proper diagnosis and formulate an appropriate treatment plan.

The current ethical guidance of the GDC in Maintaining Standards, states that a patient is entitled to expect that a dentist will provide a high standard of care. It also includes the obligation to refer the patient for further professional advice or treatment if it transpires that the task is beyond the dentist’s own skills.

When a dentist is unsure of the diagnosis, it is usually in the best interests of the patient for the dentist to seek another opinion. This usually takes place in the form of a referral from the primary dentist and an appropriate specialist. A problem arises when the specialist is far removed from the referring dentist. In some cases, the primary dentist may not be able to obtain a consult due to a multitude of factors (e.g. no transportation available, no time available (as in an urgent situation), no specialist readily available.) When this happens, the quality of patient care can suffer and does.

It is now possible to use Dental-Consults to overcome these obstacles. You could make your referral while your patient is in your chair!