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Background Dental practitioners can have low confidence when addressing patient mental health as part of wider patient management. This is increasingly relevant due to the rising prevalence of mental health conditions and the relationship that can exist between mental and oral health. Interactive workshop teaching on patient mental health may enhance the confidence of dental students when addressing mental health conditions in patients. This study trialled workshop teaching as an educational intervention in five UK and Irish dental schools. Methods A quantitative, scenario-based confidence survey to further establish the need for intervention, followed by delivery of a workshop intervention to volunteer participants. Pre- and post-workshop surveys were used to assess the effectiveness of the workshop. Results Survey data showed low confidence among dental students when addressing patient mental health. Workshop intervention improved dental student confidence on average from 2.3-3.7 on a five-point scale, with less than 0.5% likelihood that reported changes in confidence were due to chance. Discussion Low confidence of dental students addressing patient mental health scenarios echoed wider literature findings surrounding dental clinicians' ability to address patient mental health. This further demonstrated the need for educational intervention, with workshop effectiveness demonstrated within this paper. Conclusion Workshop teaching is an effective way to enhance dental student confidence when addressing patient mental health and should be considered for implementation in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery curriculum., Key points Dental students across the UK and Ireland self-report low confidence when addressing patient mental health in the dental clinic, especially when addressing undiagnosed psychiatric conditions.Interactive workshop teaching is an effective method to significantly improve the confidence of dental students when addressing patient mental health.This study recommends the implementation of interactive workshop teaching within BDS curricula to ensure graduates can 'identify, explain and manage the impact of medical and psychological conditions', as recommended by the GDC.

Background Oral direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) became government subsidized in Australia in March 2016, bringing the interferon era to a close. The ideal monitoring schedule for patients receiving DAAs is unclear. Methods This study is a randomized controlled trial comparing standard with minimal monitoring in adults receiving sofosbuvir-based therapy for HCV genotypes 1 or 3. Exclusion criteria were cirrhosis or predicted poor adherence. Standard monitoring included blood tests and face-to-face clinic visits at treatment weeks 4 and 12 and 12 weeks after treatment completion. Minimal monitoring included a phone call at weeks 4 and 12 and one set of blood tests plus a clinic visit 12 weeks after treatment completion. The coprimary outcomes were as follows: (1) proportion of participants with sustained virological response; (2) staff time spent on patient support; and (3) patient satisfaction on a 10-point Likert scale. Results Thirty-six patients were randomized to standard monitoring and 38 to minimal monitoring. Sustained virological response at 12 weeks after the end of treatment was documented in 32 of 36 (89%) in the standard versus 37 of 38 (97%) in the minimal monitoring group. Staff time was nonsignificantly longer in the standard group (median 69 [interquartile range {IQR}, 54–80] versus 52 [IQR, 40–75] minutes). Patient satisfaction scores were not different (mean 9.8 of 10 standard versus 9.6 of 10 minimal group). There was no difference in adverse events or unplanned hospital visits; mean per-patient blood test costs were higher in the standard monitoring group ($432 versus $123, P, In this pilot, randomized, controlled trial including 74 patients treated for HCV with sofosbuvir-based regimens, a strategy of minimal monitoring led to an equal cure rate with less costs compared with standard monitoring.