RD and COVID 19

RD-UK has produced guidance for MDTs on oral pre-habilitation and rehabilitation for head and neck cancer patients during the Covid-19 pandemic:

Consultant in Restorative Dentistry (CRD) should attend virtual MDT via e.g. Microsoft Teams.
Clinician (Surgeon/Oncologist) to arrange dental panoramic radiograph (DPT/OPT/OPG) at time of diagnosis or to coincide with diagnostic imaging.
CRD will assess DPT prior to MDT.
Radiology Consultant to consider reformatting existing CT scans to produced dentally focussed images if no OPG available/likely.
Oral/dental needs for every new patient should be discussed at MDT ‘live’. CRD to identify dentally vulnerable patients with the team. Discussion should be documented at the MDT.
Minimise face-to-face appointments. Offer consultations via telephone or video consultation wherever possible. Attend Anywhere APP can be used.
Counsel patients when it is considered that prosthetic rehabilitation may have low/ no chance of success or will be deferred.
Fewer dental extractions will be prescribed under current circumstances in order to reduce the number of face to face appointments.
Where there is a certain plan for surgery followed by post-operative radiotherapy, extraction of teeth with very poor prognosis during primary surgery should be considered.
In order to cut non-essential follow-up visits, follow-up virtual clinics should be developed.
Prosthetic rehabilitation may need to be deferred and, in some cases, may not be possible.
Even at this pressured time practices and treatments which are based on evidence and are known to help patients should be employed. Participation by a CRD is considered an essential part of head and neck cancer care. In the event that CRD input to the MDT becomes unavailable during the COVID-19 crisis and in the absence of a local network of CRD, support should be sought from the regional Dental Hospital Restorative department. The RD-UK Head and Neck Cancer Clinical Effectiveness Network can also provide general guidance at rd.uk@nhs.net
More detailed guidance for CRDs is available on the RD-UK website: www.restdent.org.uk
Document available here

This guidance will be updated as new information becomes available