Sir, within the UK, patients whom present during 'Out of Hours' to accident and emergency departments are often treated by an on-call dental core trainee (DCT) in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS).

These patients are then advised to seek follow-up treatment with their own general dental practitioner (GDP). A recent project carried out within the OMFS department at Altnagelvin Hospital in Northern Ireland highlighted that these patients were not routinely provided with a follow-up communication aid to outline the treatment they received to their own GDP.

Quite often dental trauma treated within OMFS units is complex. These patients may have had a splint placed which requires timely removal. The follow-up advice provided to these patients is important to allow the traumatised teeth to have the best possible outcome.1

A new local guideline has been implemented and a local pro-forma designed within our department for the treatment of traumatic dental injuries, detailing the injury sustained, initial treatment provided and a recommendation for future management.

This not only allows us to better communicate with our GDP colleagues but also fulfil our duty of following the GDC standards,2 notably Standard 6 : 'Work with colleagues in a way that is in patients' best interests'.

I think it is appropriate to highlight this finding to the wider population of dentists as many DCTs may be faced with a situation in which they are treating patients during Out of Hours and struggle to find a way to appropriately communicate their findings and treatment to the GDP. Perhaps within other OMFS departments, a similar local pro-forma could be implemented allowing for ease of communication between the hospital and primary dental services.