Dental professionals feel it is harder to gain patient consent during a remote consultation – DDU survey

That's according to new research published by the Dental Defence Union (DDU).

The DDU surveyed 255 dental members about their use of remote consultations during the pandemic and found that the majority of remote consultations were phone consultations (91%) that were being undertaken in the workplace (64%) as opposed to at home (13%).

The DDU also found that when undertaking a remote consultation, members were most concerned about:

Leo Briggs, deputy head of the DDU said: 'The use of remote consultations has increased dramatically during the pandemic. While much face-to-face dentistry has resumed, remote consultations are still useful, particularly when triaging patients and when helping to protect vulnerable patients. However, they still present some challenges for dental professionals.