Self-care plans for patients: the dental nurse's role

Caries and periodontal disease are both preventable, yet are still highly prevalent. They are costly to treat and often cause distress and anxiety to patients. This has resulted in an increased focus on prevention in dentistry (Harris and Bridgman, 2010). The introduction of care pathways into dentistry in recent years has aided the practitioner and the dental team as a whole in providing the right treatment for the right patient at the right time.

Since the introduction of service redesign pilots within the NHS, there has been a greater-than-ever emphasis on prevention in dentistry. An Independent Review of NHS Dental Services in England (Department of Health, 2009) recommended that ‘NHS primary care dentistry provision should be commissioned and delivered through a staged pathway through care’.