The identification of agreed criteria for referral following the dental inspection of children in the school setting.

Aim: To clarify the function of the school based dental inspection.

Objective: For representatives of the Community Dental Service, General Dental Service and Hospital Dental Service to identify an agreed set of criteria for the referral of children following school dental inspection.

Design: Qualitative research methodology used to establish a consensus for the inclusion of referral criteria following dental screening.

Setting: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England.

Materials: A Delphi technique was used to establish a consensus amongst the study participants on the inclusion of nine possible criteria for referral following dental screening. All participants scored each criterion in the range 1-9, with a score of 1 indicating that referral of individuals with the condition should definitely not take place, and a score of 9 indicating referral should definitely take place. Referral criteria were accepted only if they achieved a group median score of 7 or more, with an interquartile range of three scale points, with the lower value being no less than 7.

Results: Four of the nine possible criteria met the agreed group standard for inclusion: 'Sepsis', 'Caries in the secondary dentition', 'Overjet > 10 mm', and 'Registered & caries in the permanent dentition'.

Conclusion: It is possible to agree clear criteria for the referral of children following the school dental inspection.