Treatment planning
Stabilise disease and pain, discuss reasonable options, sequence care and plan review. Document patient priorities and the reason for each choice.
Understand
Plan at patient, arch, tooth and lesion levels. Disease control and prognosis precede definitive restoration; a patient's values, resources and ability to maintain treatment matter.
Assess
List problems, urgency, options and dependencies. Decide what must be stabilised before an irreversible intervention, and where specialist opinion might alter the plan.
Apply
Discuss benefits, material risks, alternatives and no treatment. Record an agreed sequence with review points; avoid presenting a technically possible option as automatically preferable.
Key distinctions
Treatment plans are often iterative: urgent symptom relief, disease stabilisation, definitive intervention and maintenance. Prognosis should be discussed at tooth and whole-mouth levels, including whether a proposed restoration is maintainable. A shared plan can legitimately choose a simpler option if it meets the patient's priorities and avoids disproportionate burden.
Think through a case
A patient requests a crown while active periodontal disease and recurrent caries remain. Stabilisation and prognosis should come before definitive preparation.
The distinction to remember
Do not present an option list without explaining sequence, maintenance and the consequence of choosing no treatment.
Test your recall
What comes before definitive restoration in active disease?
Show answer
Control of disease and a preventive plan.