A dental treatment plan is a detailed breakdown of the events your patients can expect throughout their treatment timeline. Dentists create these plans with specific treatment goals, ensuring that their clients get the most out of their investment. The dental treatment plan phases we've included below may vary from patient to patient, but they're all essential steps that this short guide can help you understand.

Factors That Contribute to a Dental Treatment Plan

Before we dive in, let's quickly go over what factors might contribute to dental treatment planning. Every person is different, so you must customize each plan to match your patient's needs and preferences. Here are some things to consider as you think through treatment options:

• Patient goals and desires: What are your patients’ long-term and short-term objectives? For example, they may want to relieve pain or fix their misaligned teeth. Patient goals will narrow the treatment options significantly.
• ‍Dentist goals and desires: What are your desired outcomes? For example, you may want to remove a patient's decayed teeth or recommend getting braces. Hopefully, your treatment objectives will align with your patients. 
• ‍Patient abilities and willingness: A financially struggling dental patient won't have the same available treatment options as an affluent patient. A patient who doesn't take care of their teeth or has a phobia of dentists will also limit your treatment suggestions.
• ‍Dentist abilities and willingness: What are your technical skills and level of knowledge? If you aren't comfortable administering certain treatments, you probably shouldn't do them but instead refer the patient out.

Determining the best treatment plan for your patients can be challenging. However, our top-quality services at Dental Intelligence make the process so much easier. Check out the templates for dental treatment plans from Dental Intelligence to learn more.

Dental Treatment Plan Phases

Dental treatment plan phases help break down the overall process into easy-to-follow segments. Each stage of treatment has its own function, providing a well-rounded, effective solution to the patient's unique needs.

Assessment Phase

The assessment phase of treatment begins the entire process. During this phase, you'll examine the patient's mouth, teeth, and gums to determine what you need to do. A professional cleaning (which may involve an oral hygienist or dental assistant) will usually take place at this time, too.

With an initial assessment, you can identify major dental problems and start formulating ideas for the right type of treatment. You'll also learn about a patient's medical history and underlying health concerns.

Acute Phase

During the acute phase, the dentist addresses urgent oral issues. For example, a fractured incisor is a severe problem requiring immediate treatment. On the other hand, you could put off recapping an old molar crown until later in the treatment plan.

Disease Control Phase

The disease control phase of dental treatment typically comes into play with more complex cases. For various reasons, a dentist may question the effectiveness of a treatment plan and decide to hold for now. These reasons may include:

• Eradicating an oral disease is necessary before treatment
• A dental disease may prevent a planned treatment from being effective
• The planned dental treatment may worsen the condition

Essentially, you'll treat more acute dental diseases and stabilize a patient's oral health before continuing with planned treatment during the control phase.

Re-evaluation Phase

Once you complete the disease control phase, you'll need to re-evaluate the patient's situation. Is the crisis resolved, and should you proceed? If so, move on to the next dental treatment plan phase.

Definitive Phase

The definitive phase is the heart and soul of every dental treatment plan. During this phase, the patient will receive the necessary dental work to fix their smile and achieve healthy, beautiful teeth. Definitive phase treatments often include the following:

• Periodontal therapy
• Surgery
• Tooth restoration
• Cosmetic procedures
• Tooth extractions
• Missing tooth replacement

Monitoring Phase

Just because a patient has finished therapy or surgery doesn't mean the treatment plan is complete. You must monitor the treatment to ensure that it's doing what you envisioned, and no other dental problems have arisen. For complicated procedures, the monitoring phase could extend over weeks and even months.

During this phase, you'll check in regularly with your patients to ask them how they're doing and if they've noticed any issues like oral discomfort, pain, swelling, or aching. You'll also review the treatment progress to see concrete before-and-after results.

Dental Intelligence: The Number One Resource for Your Dental Practice

At Dental Intelligence, we provide the tools and know-how you need to boost your dental practice. Do you want to know more about dental treatment plan phases or a dental morning huddle? We have the answers — get started today!