From RAG to riches

A traffic light tick box system has become the patient’s entry point to their dental journey. You will find a Red Amber Green (RAG) scoring system as features of both NHS and private care. For instance, I believe an Oral Health Assessment is at the heart of the reformed dental health contract currently being trialled by dentists working in the NHS. The system operates as you might expect. Green means good dental health while red means no treatment until dental health is restored. From what I have heard, patients respond well to this system.
Meanwhile, Denplan is celebrating the success of its new DEPPA software which it has made available to its Excel accredited dentists. DEPPA is a risk assessment system and also features traffic light scoring. It has been so well received by the patients of Excel-accredited dentists over the course of the last year that it is now available to all Denplan’s members.
I expect that the software supporting both systems will be able to track oral health improvements and ultimately measure compliance, hopefully inspiring patients and their dental health providers. It reinforces what we all know, that uncomplicated communication works best for our patients.