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Dental remuneration systems

Can we remunerate for prevention? A public health perspective

British Dental Journal volume 236, page 106 (2024)Cite this article

Key points

  • Dental service provision is a complex system with multiple incentives and counter-incentives to prevention.

  • Downstream activities at scale should complement upstream activity to counter the commercial and structural determinants of health and inequity.

  • Despite good examples of innovative practice, the widely endorsed Delivering better oral health toolkit is still not implemented across all dental practices.

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References

  1. Brocklehurst P, Tickle M, Birch S et al. Impact of changing provider remuneration on NHS general dental practitioner services in Northern Ireland: a mixed-methods study. Health Serv Deliv Res 2020; DOI: 10.3310/hsdr08060.

  2. Peres M A, Macpherson L M, Weyant R J et al. Oral diseases: a global public health challenge. Lancet 2019; 394: 249-260.

  3. Cope A L, Bannister C, Karki A et al. The development and application of a chairside oral health risk and need stratification tool in general dental services. J Dent 2022; 123: 104206.

  4. Barnes E, Bullock A, Chestnutt I G, Cowpe J, Moons K, Warren W. Dental therapists in general dental practice. A literature review and case-study analysis to determine what works, why, how and in what circumstances. Eur J Dent Educ 2020; 24: 109-120.

  5. Brocklehurst P, Hoare Z, Woods C et al. Can dental therapists maintain the oral health of routine low risk dental recall patients in high-street dental practices? A pilot study. Health Serv Deliv Res 2021; 9: 1-204.

  6. Sandom F, Hearnshaw S, Grant S, Williams L, Brocklehurst P. The in-practice prevention programme: an example of flexible commissioning from Yorkshire and the Humber. Br Dent J 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41415-022-4140-y.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consultant and Honorary Professor in Dental Public Health, Public Health Wales, UK

    Paul R. Brocklehurst

  2. Consultant in Dental Public Health, Public Health Wales, UK

    Anup Karki & Mary Wilson

  3. Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health, Cardiff University, UK

    Anwen Cope

  4. Research Associate, Cardiff University, UK

    Emma Barnes

  5. Professor and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health, Cardiff University, UK

    Ivor Chestnutt

Authors
  1. Paul R. Brocklehurst
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  2. Anup Karki
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  3. Anwen Cope
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  4. Emma Barnes
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  5. Mary Wilson
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  6. Ivor Chestnutt
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Paul R. Brocklehurst, Anup Karki, Anwen Cope, Emma Barnes, Mary Wilson or Ivor Chestnutt.

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Cite this article

R. Brocklehurst, P., Karki, A., Cope, A. et al. Can we remunerate for prevention? A public health perspective. Br Dent J 236, 106 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-6765-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-6765-5

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