A whirlwind year has passed by, and although challenging to make the voice of Restorative Dentistry heard in our region of 1.8 million people, some green shoots of growth are emerging as I strive to create a service which can properly serve our population, and support our Dentists.
I believe one of Restorative Dentistry's biggest challenges is education of the non-Dental community in what exactly we do. Defining our service clearly is essential as at the moment it is very unclear amongst primary care Dentistry what referral services are on offer. Unfortunately, the answer to that is very little, relative to what should be available for our population.
I would Describe the Service provision required for Restorative Dentistry in 2 clear parts:
1. Hospital based provision of Maxillofacial Prosthodontics/oral rehabilitation for
a. Head and Neck Cancer
b. Trauma
c. Hypodontia
There is a need for Hospital based services as these patients require multi-disciplinary care and significant specialist input at all stages of their treatment journey. We are really short on this front in our region as at present I believe we have less than 2 full time Consultants serving nearly 2 million people. National guidance recommends 1 Consultant per 200,000 people.
2. Monospeciality referral services for
a. Endodontics
b. Periodontics
c. Prosthodontics
I believe the MCN development will eventually shoulder the bulk of this workload, whether in Primary care or academic settings. Excitingly we are making significant progress on the Pilot for Periodontal services. There is a huge demand for Endo and Pros/toothwear expansion of services, but we are aware of the challenges and size of task and realistic about the time required.
I am about to recruit a Speciality Dentist in Maxillofacial Prosthodontics post at Morecambe Bay Trust, although a small step, will ease the huge backlog of cases which have built of over the COVID period. If any Dentists are interested, please contact william.anderson1@mbht.nhs.uk for further information. It will be advertised imminently.
There is an excellent, supportive and progressive management team in the region keen to provide a modern service and utilise technology, so we can find the optimum service design to benefit patients and support and advise GDPs.
Will Anderson
BSc BDS MFDS MPerio FDS (Rest Dent)