Clinical quality assurance indicators for oral status and treatment of a group of older adults.

OBJECTIVE

To record and comment on the oral status and treatment provision over a 3-year period for a group of 150 patients aged between 50 and 64 with special reference to the WHO (ORATEL) quality assurance indicators.

DESIGN

150 patients in the defined age group who were attending a general dental practitioner for a routine examination were sampled over a 3-month period. The oral status was recorded by the GDP at the time of attendance and a retrospective analysis of treatment provided over three years was carried out by reference to the patient case notes.

RESULTS

An analysis of the data relating to oral health status and previous treatment provision suggested that some indicators were easy to accurately record while others lacked clear diagnostic criteria. There were also some inconsistencies in format. There was a lack of coverage in a few important areas and some additional indicators were suggested.

CONCLUSIONS

The ORATEL indicators form a useful core dataset for GDPs to use to measure oral health change within the patient base of their practices. The recording and analysis of quality assurance indicators by the GDP could make a significant contribution to the monitoring of the oral health change of patients in general dental practice.