Quality Improvement and Audit in the Dental Practice

This book is an introduction to quality improvement methods for dentists and other oral health professionals. It includes audit, which will be familiar to many dental professionals, and sets it in the wider context of quality improvement theory and practice. The book provides sufficient information to allow dental practices to undertake clinical audit and quality improvement using current best practice.

The World Dental Federation has called for greater attention to quality in dentistry and has argued for the use of quality improvement methods. In the United Kingdom, the health services in Wales and Scotland have begun to produce materials to support dental quality improvement work. The Care Quality Commission in England has emphasized the requirement for audit in dental care. Dental Practices in Scotland are now required to undertake QI projects. In the USA, the American Dental Association now encourages audit and QI training guidance has been issued by the California Department of Public Health Office of Oral Health.

While there has been a worldwide movement towards an increased focus on quality improvement in dental care, there are no supporting books to educate the market on this topic. One existing book discusses a case example of the use of Lean in dental care, but there are no generic quality improvement books that we have been able to identify. The courses developed in England, Scotland and California are in response to a need, but no book is available to support teaching with specifically dental examples.