Abstract
Objective. The differential diagnosis of pain in the mouth can be challenging for general medical practitioners (GMPs) as many different dental problems can present with similar signs and symptoms. This study aimed to create a treatment algorithm for GMPs to effectively and appropriately refer the patients and prescribe antibiotics. Design. The study design is comprised of qualitative focus group discussions. Setting and Subjects. Groups of GMPs within the Gold Coast and Brisbane urban and city regions. Outcome Measures. Content thematically analysed and treatment algorithm developed. Results. There were 5 focus groups with 8-9 participants per group. Addressing whether antibiotics should be given to patients with dental pain was considered very important to GMPs to prevent overtreatment and creating antibiotic resistance. Many practitioners were unsure of what the different forms of dental pains represent. 90% of the practitioners involved agreed that the treatment algorithm was useful to daily practice. Conclusion. Common dental complaints and infections are seldom surgical emergencies but can result in prolonged appointments for those GMPs who do not regularly deal with these issues. The treatment algorithm for referral processes and prescriptions was deemed easily downloadable and simple to interpret and detailed but succinct enough for clinical use by GMPs.
Highlights
A number of studies have identified that medical practitioners have only a small or no amount of training during medical school in regard to treating dental infections or dental pain [1,2,3,4]
Even many registered medical practitioners had still not received any form of dental emergency education in the form of Continued Professional Education (CPD) [6], with one study noting that most respondents had only 2 or less hours of preventive dental education [7]
This study aimed to identify what general medical practitioners (GMPs) would prefer in a treatment algorithm to effectively and appropriately refer, tentatively diagnose, and prescribe antibiotics
Summary
A number of studies have identified that medical practitioners have only a small or no amount of training during medical school in regard to treating dental infections or dental pain [1,2,3,4]. Appropriate and accurate knowledge of dental infections appears to be necessary to enable suitable referral [8, 9], whether that is a general dental practitioner, a dental specialist, or the emergency department. Medical practitioners do not have the specific dental instruments that the general dentist has to help diagnose and treat different complaints. Considering that the aim of the GMPs is not to treat but to determine the phase of referral it was hypothesised that a treatment algorithm would efficiently and effectively enable GMPs to identify the basic nature of the patients’ complaint and refer . There are no published treatment algorithms on this subject for GMPs
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