Referral patterns and the referral system for oral surgery care. Part 1: General dental practitioner referral patterns.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate current GDP oral surgery referral patterns given the anticipated change since the introduction by the General Dental Council of the specialty of surgical dentistry.


METHODS
Postal questionnaire.


METHODS
400 GDPs in Greater Manchester.


RESULTS
84% participation rate. 69% of dentists made a referral because of anticipated difficulty of surgery and 49% because of the complex nature of the patients' medical history. Practitioners who had undergone some oral surgery postgraduate training were more likely to undertake more surgery in their practices (P < 0.01) and to refer more patients for specialist care (P < 0.05). While female practitioners rated their own surgical confidence less highly than male practitioners (P < 0.001), and younger practitioners less than their older colleagues (P < 0.05), there was no significant difference in the number of referrals made.


CONCLUSIONS
The most common reasons for referral were the anticipated difficulty of surgery and patient medical compromise. There was a wide variation between practitioners in the number of patients referred for specialist care. Postgraduate oral surgery training was identified as a factor contributing to this variation. Other practitioner variables, such as sex, experience and type of practice were not found to contribute.
Coulthard
P
P
Manchester University Dental Hospital.
Kazakou
I
I
Koron
R
R
Worthington
H V
HV
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004498:Education, Dental, Continuing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013515:Surgery, Oral / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires