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A comparison of the sedation provision of NHS dental services 2014-2016 for local authorities throughout England

British Dental Journal volume 227, pages 497–502 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Background Conscious dental sedation is commissioned by NHS England for patients who are unable to accept dental treatment under local anaesthetic and behavioural techniques alone. Dental sedation provided by NHS England is carried out on a referral basis but this can be carried out in a primary or secondary care setting. This paper reports a study carried out to improve NHS dental services by supporting the work of multiple NHS England area teams in reviews of sedation services.

Aim The aim of this paper is to identify variations in the provision of sedation services by NHS providers across England and explore possible factors affecting this variation.

Method The project makes use of the recently developed NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) national public health data set, which Public Health England has developed in association with the BSA.

Results Variations in population experience of sedation in England have been graphically demonstrated using a comprehensive BSA data set which captures all general dental service and public dental service (GDS/PDS) activity for a two-year period. There are wide and significant variations in population experience of sedation across England.

Conclusion The variations in population experience of sedation across England are difficult to explain on purely clinical grounds.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Andy Billett, Paul Collingwood and Gillian Bryant from the North East Knowledge and Intelligence Team for their help with finding data sets, statistical methods and mapping. Thanks to Professor Iain Pretty for peer reviewing the methodology used in the original report. The authors of the original report were D. P. Landes (North East Centre PHE), C. Klass (East of England Centre PHE), J. Lewney (Specialist Registrar North East Centre PHE) and K. Shah (North East Centre PHE). The views expressed throughout are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Public Health England or the National Health Service.

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Affiliations

  1. Dental Core Trainee Level 3, Dental Public Health, PHE North East, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    William S. Maguire

  2. Consultant in Public Health, Surrey County Council, Kingston-upon-Thames Dental Public Health, PHE North East, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Jonathan Lewney

  3. Consultant Dental Public Health, PHE North East, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    David P. Landes

Authors
  1. William S. Maguire
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  2. Jonathan Lewney
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  3. David P. Landes
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Correspondence to William S. Maguire.

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Maguire, W., Lewney, J. & Landes, D. A comparison of the sedation provision of NHS dental services 2014-2016 for local authorities throughout England. Br Dent J 227, 497–502 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-019-0714-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-019-0714-8

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