Direct referral day case oral surgery for dental practitioners: a pilot investigation

Direct referral of patients for day case surgery by general medical practitioners (without hospital assessment) has become widely accepted but few facilities exist for this form of referral from general dental practice. In order to evaluate whether direct access day surgery is applicable to dentistry, the quality of referral by GDPs and hospital consultant clinics was compared in a prospective study (1994-1997) involving 1581 patients.