Bannister C, Cope A L, Karki A et al. Time to complete contemporary dental procedures - estimates from a cross-sectional survey of the dental team. BMC Oral Health 2023; DOI: 10.1186/s12903-023-03671-y.

Little change from BDA research in 1991.

Ninety-six dental care professionals in Wales working within the NHS responded to an online survey requesting estimates of time taken to provide a range of interventions, including time for patient arrival and departure, administration of local anaesthetic and the procedure itself.

Times taken for adult patients were broadly similar between dentists and DHTs, with the exception of a scale and polish when dentists took an average of 8.8 minutes and DHTs, 16.4 minutes. For children, DHTs took significantly longer time than dentists for all procedures. The reasons for this are not immediately apparent.

From these results, the delegation of treatments to DHTs may mean cost savings for employers. The case for delegating treatment of child patients is less apparent.