Pathways to providers of care
Pathways to providers of care - decision support
When a patient presents with an acute dental problem, the healthcare professional needs to be able to identify the nature of the problem to the extent required for them to provide initial management and to determine the appropriate provider of subsequent care. While many dental professionals are experienced in doing this, for less experienced dental professionals and other healthcare professionals, this can be particularly challenging. The decision support pathways presented in this section as flowcharts are primarily directed towards non-dentists, although they are of relevance to all users.
Most patients presenting with an acute dental problem will report pain and/or swelling, bleeding or injury due to trauma. Some patients may present with other symptoms, particularly ulceration, altered sensation or an abnormal lesion, lump or mark (abnormal appearance).
The flowcharts in the sections below illustrate the pathways to care providers for patients who present with acute dental problems. The start point of each flowchart is one of the following key presenting symptoms.
It is recognised that a patient may present with more than one of these symptoms. In this case, the main or first reported symptom is used as the start point.
Pathway key:
The number shown in the circle at the top right hand corner of some of the endpoint boxes refers to one of the Decision support pathway endpoints, which list conditions that share the presenting symptoms that lead to this endpoint.
Red, amber, green and blue boxes denote Emergency Care, Urgent Care, Non-urgent Care and Self Care endpoints as described in Timescales for treatment.
These flowcharts are included as a means of illustrating pathways to care providers based on presenting symptoms. An interactive digital decision support tool based on the information contained within these flowcharts is in development. This will be accessible via the Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) Right Decision Service website.