Developing tools to support a values-based care approach in dentistry

The GDC has been working on a project to explore how we can support dental professionals to use the principles of ‘shared decision-making’ when communicating with patients, and will soon be looking for dental teams in London and Birmingham to trial our values-based tools.

The tools we’re developing will help professionals to communicate with patients in a way that is clear and respectful, while providing clinically effective care and treatment. This work has been supported by an expert advisory group, which has brought together dentistry academics, representatives from the professions, and academics specialising in values-based care.

We are developing a set of practical tools to promote and support a values-based care approach. These include a leaflet and an animation aimed at patients, as well as a leaflet to guide dental professionals when using these new tools in their practice. During development, we sought feedback on the early prototypes from dental professionals and patients using an online survey. The results were used to refine the design and content of our toolkit.

We will soon be moving on to real world testing, to see how well this approach fits with clinical practice and will be inviting practices to get involved in this work. This will involve using the tools during appointments, before taking part in a brief survey and interview about their effectiveness.

The findings from the trial will help us to understand the experience of dental professionals and patients when using these tools. We'll share this feedback with our advisory group, with a view to further develop the toolkit and make it available for use in practise.