Referral Procedure

There are three options with the referral procedure:

1.) Referral for opinion/Consultation:

A consultation appointment is necessary before any treatment is carried out. This is a 20 -30 minute appointment which will involve a full clinical and radiographic assessment of the tooth or teeth in question. The patient is not committed to treatment at this stage and a follow up report can be requested.

The issues addressed most commonly during the consultation:

• assessing whether the pain is of dental or non dental origin identification of the problem tooth,

• assessing the periodontal status of the tooth,

• providing an endodontic assessment of the need for elective treatment, providing an endodontic prognosis if treatment is required,

• assessing the restorability of the tooth

• assessing the suitability for incorporating the tooth or teeth into a treatment plan

• discussing the alternative options to root canal treatment

• discussing the need for further restorative treatment following treatment.

2.) Referring for Treatment (consultation required):

You may wish to refer a patient for specific specialist treatment that you do not wish to undertake yourself.

3.) Seeking an Opinion:

You may wish me to give advice on a case that you are involved with. Ideally this request would be a written letter or email with a brief history outlining the problem with a few radiographs enclosed of the tooth in question. However, in the event of there being an acute problem with the patient in your surgery i.e. management of trauma I will happily advise over the phone.