ADC Written (Dental Therapy) key terms

The range of tasks, procedures, and decisions a dental therapist is legally and professionally permitted to carry out, defined by registration, training, and the laws of the jurisdiction where they work.

Additional clinical activities a practitioner may perform after completing approved extra training and gaining authorisation, such as administering local anaesthetic or extracting certain teeth.

A model of care in which patients can be seen by a dental therapist without first being examined by a dentist, subject to local regulations and the therapist's competence.

The formal process of sending a patient to another practitioner for care beyond one's own competence or scope, including sharing relevant clinical information and following up the outcome.

Coordinated teamwork among dental and health professionals who share responsibility for a patient's care, communicating findings and planning treatment together to achieve the best overall outcome.

A written schedule of agreed treatment, preventive actions, and review points tailored to a patient's needs, goals, and risk profile, forming the basis for monitoring progress over time.

The ordered sequence of clinical procedures chosen to address a patient's diagnosed conditions, including alternatives considered, expected outcomes, costs, and arrangements for review.

The identification of a patient's condition from history, examination, and investigations, providing the basis for deciding whether to treat, monitor, or refer.

A reasoned list of possible conditions that could explain a patient's signs and symptoms, ranked and tested as evidence is gathered so that serious causes are not missed.

A clinical sign, symptom, or history detail that suggests serious disease or rapid deterioration and requires urgent action, escalation, or referral rather than routine management.

A structured evaluation of a patient's likelihood of developing or worsening oral disease, based on clinical findings, behaviours, and social factors, used to set recall intervals and preventive intensity.

The probability that a person will develop new dental decay or experience progression of existing lesions, estimated from diet, fluoride exposure, saliva, plaque, and past caries experience.

Localised destruction of tooth tissue caused by acids produced when bacteria ferment dietary sugars, progressing from enamel demineralisation to cavity formation and possible pulp involvement.

Loss of mineral, mainly calcium and phosphate, from tooth enamel or dentine when acids lower the local pH, leaving the surface softer and more porous until remineralisation restores it.

The return of minerals into previously demineralised tooth tissue, encouraged by saliva and fluoride, which can arrest early lesions and harden the enamel surface.

A soft, sticky community of bacteria and their products that forms on tooth surfaces and in gum margins, capable of causing decay and inflammation if not regularly disrupted.

Hardened mineralised plaque firmly attached to teeth or restorations, which cannot be removed by brushing and provides a rough surface where further plaque accumulates.

Reversible inflammation of the gums caused by plaque, producing redness, swelling, and bleeding on brushing, without loss of the supporting bone attachment.

Inflammation and infection of the tissues supporting the teeth, leading to attachment loss and bone destruction that may eventually cause tooth mobility and tooth loss.

A clinical indicator of active gum inflammation recorded when gentle probing of the sulcus produces bleeding, used to monitor disease and the response to treatment.

Systematic recording of probing depths, gum recession, attachment levels, mobility, and bleeding at each tooth, producing a baseline and tracking changes over time.

Removal of plaque, calculus, and stains from tooth surfaces above and, where within scope, below the gum line, using hand instruments or powered devices.

Careful smoothing and debridement of root surfaces beneath the gum line to remove deposits and bacterial products, allowing gum tissue to heal and reattach.

A concentrated fluoride coating painted onto tooth surfaces to strengthen enamel, reduce demineralisation, and arrest early decay, especially useful for high-risk patients.

A mineral that reduces tooth decay by promoting remineralisation, inhibiting bacterial acid production, and making enamel more resistant to acid attack when present at appropriate levels.

A change in the appearance of tooth enamel, ranging from faint white marks to brown mottling, caused by excessive fluoride intake during tooth development.

Teaching a patient the skills and routines needed to clean teeth and gums effectively, matched to their dexterity, anatomy, and preferences, and reviewed at subsequent visits.

A collaborative conversation style that helps patients explore and resolve ambivalence about behaviour change, using open questions, reflective listening, and affirmation rather than advice-giving.

The process by which a person adopts or drops a health-related habit, shaped by motivation, capability, opportunity, and social context, and supported by brief, repeated interventions.

A person's ability to obtain, understand, and use health information to make decisions, influenced by language, education, and culture, and requiring practitioners to communicate clearly.

A patient's voluntary agreement to treatment after receiving and understanding information about the proposed care, its risks, benefits, alternatives, and the consequences of declining.

A person's ability to understand and weigh information about a decision and communicate a choice, assessed for the specific decision at the time it is made.

Permission for treatment given by a parent or legally appointed representative on behalf of a child or adult who cannot consent themselves, following local age and capacity rules.

The professional duty to keep patient information private, sharing it only with those involved in care or when required by law, such as in cases of serious risk.

A legal obligation to notify a designated authority about specified events, such as suspected child abuse, impaired practice, or certain infectious diseases, even without the patient's agreement.

The duty to recognise and respond to signs of abuse or neglect in children, including documenting concerns, following local reporting pathways, and prioritising the child's safety.

Practice that recognises power differences between clinician and patient, respects a person's cultural identity, and adapts care so that patients feel safe, respected, and genuinely involved.

A lifelong, self-reflective stance in which clinicians acknowledge their own biases, remain open to learning from patients about their culture, and adjust care accordingly.

Trained language mediators used when a patient and clinician do not share a fluent language, supporting accurate history-taking and consent rather than relying on family members.

A structured record of a patient's past and current health, medicines, allergies, and relevant family and social factors, reviewed at each visit to guide safe treatment decisions.

Reversible numbing of a region of the mouth produced by injecting an anaesthetic drug near a nerve, allowing comfortable treatment while the patient remains conscious.

An unintended harm or near miss arising during care, which should be recognised promptly, managed, documented, disclosed to the patient, and reviewed to prevent recurrence.

Standard precautions and procedures, including hand hygiene, protective equipment, and correct reprocessing of instruments, that prevent transmission of microorganisms between patients and staff.

Routine infection-control measures applied to every patient regardless of known infection status, treating all blood and body fluids as potentially infectious.

A validated process that destroys all microorganisms, including bacterial spores, on reusable instruments, usually by steam under pressure, with monitoring to confirm effectiveness.