RETURN Project Aims To Encourage Patients To Complete Treatment
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- Published: Tuesday, 07 October 2025 10:17
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Amongst the many frustrations dental teams face, the irregular patient who only attends when there is an emergency must come near the top of the list. Patients who fall into the regular irregular attendance pattern often end up requiring more complex treatment, because they have ignored recalls, or the warning signs that all was not well. And because they attend only when there is a pressing problem, the resulting urgency adds to the pressure on practices to see them at short notice.
Along with dental teams, commissioners and health departments are keen to change this pattern, particularly as it is happening against a backdrop of restricted access, and DIY dental horror stories.
RETURN is a project, which began in 2018, that has created and tested materials to help adults get back into regular dental care instead of only going when something hurts.
The British Dental Journal has reported on a meeting in Liverpool earlier this year that provided results from a major trial which set out to support urgent dental care patients to attend for routine care. In attendance were CDO Jason Wong, DHSC commissioners, and policy makers, as well as dental team members and other stakeholders.
The CDO spoke of the relevance of the RETURN project in the context of dental access and health inequality challenges.
Speaking at the event, Professor Rebecca Harris, Chief Investigator for the RETURN trial, said: ‘For many people attending for urgent dental care is a real low point in their lives, but it can also be a turning point. This study shows that even in very deprived areas, people really value their oral health and dental services, and with the right support, they can overcome barriers to dental care - it doesn’t need to be expensive or take longer than 15 minutes.’
Professor Harris, spoke about the development of the RETURN intervention and attendees each received a hard copy of the intervention pack, which is accompanied by a set of short videos about overcoming barriers to dental care.
The patient materials include booklets on topics such as anxiety, concerns about cost, fear of embarrassment, and lack of trust in dentists. The videos also deal with the perceived barriers, including a lack of time and the belief that there is no need to attend, unless in pain.
The RETURN randomised controlled trial testing the intervention involved recruiting over 1,100 adults who had not visited a dentist for two years or more and who attended for urgent dental care. They were followed up 6, 12 and 18 months later to see whether they had attended for routine care, and what the impact of oral health on their lives had been. Despite the perception that some users of urgent care do not want maintenance, many participants had retained the intervention pack for over a year and persisted in their attempts to get routine care.
Dr Daniel Howdon from Leeds University Clinical Trials Unit led the health economic analysis and outlined cost-effectiveness results. He said: ‘This is one of the most unambiguously positive health economics results I have seen in the trials I’ve worked on. Results show that we are highly confident the RETURN intervention is cost-effective’.
Full results of the study are due to be published in October 2025.
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