PANDA study - An evaluation of an alternative Dental Pathway
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An evaluation of an alternative Child Friendly Dental Pathway for Paediatric patients
IRAS ID
323977
Contact name
Michaela Goodwin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Children in the poorest areas of England have much more tooth decay than those in wealthier areas, and this is a major health inequality. These children are often referred by regular dentists to a Community Dental Service (CDS) for specialist treatment and many are sent on to hospital to have teeth removed while asleep under general anaesthetic. At present, about 15,000 children need teeth removed in hospital each year in England, and this is the commonest reason for children being admitted. Unfortunately waiting times for CDS and hospital referrals have increased during the Covid 19 pandemic.
During Covid 19, a potential alternative to treating these children was introduced; a special kind of dental practice known as a “Child Friendly Dental Practice” (CFDP). These practices have additional support that allows them the time to manage children with lots of decay and their waiting times are only a few weeks. By seeing these children earlier there is a good chance we can reduce the need to send them to a CDS or to hospital for extractions. This option should reduce demands on hospitals and enable them to focus on those children who have the most urgent complex dental needs.
The working assumption is that the Child Friendly Dental Practices would improve things. We will test that assumption using a 'realist approach' and unravel the mechanisms which could determine how it works. We are therefore going to test these Child Friendly Dental Practices and measure all the different aspects of the children, their treatment, whether they ultimately still need teeth taken out under general anaesthetic, and costs and savings.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0093
Date of REC Opinion
2 May 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion