Reducing Wait Time for Dental Crowns After Root Canal Treatment
Care Process & Redesign
Yishun Health One Improvement Festival
National Healthcare Group
21 April 2025
To reduce the average wait time for Dental Crowns after Root Canal Treatment (RCT) for Prosthodontic patients in the Dental. Efficient and prioritized appointment scheduling can decrease wait time for urgent cases, especially with reduced manpower.
Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 21 April 2025
Tags: Care Process ＆ Redesign, Workflow Redesign, Cost Saving, Time Saving
About this Content
Aims
To reduce the average wait time for Dental Crowns after Root Canal Treatment (RCT) for Prosthodontic patients in the Dental Surgery department, from 145 to 120 days, from Aug 2023 – Feb 2024.
Background
Average wait time for crown after RCT at KTPH is 4.8 months from Jan - Jul 2023. Evidence shows if the crown is done more than 4 months after RCT, it is 3 times more likely to be extracted. 35% of KTPH patients wait more than 4 months for crown, many instances of tooth fracture while waiting.
Methods
1. Use Healthhub to cancel and reschedule dental appointments. 2. Standardization of Prosthodontic clinical slots, by ring-fencing for urgent crowns. 3. Call patients to confirm 2 days prior to appointment. 4. Educate Polyclinic dental officers to direct consults to correct specialty.
Results
1. Wait time for crown appointment reduced from 92 to 63 days. 2. Number of urgent crowns referred increased from 0 to 3 per week. 3. No show rate decreased from 16.6 to 13.6%. 4. Wait time for crown after RCT reduced from 145 to 70 days.
Conclusion
Efficient and prioritized appointment scheduling can decrease wait time for urgent cases, especially with reduced manpower. Clear guidelines required for all staff (admin, clinicians) to ensure smooth treatment journey. Call reminders reduced no-show rate by 18%, and help to alleviate call centre congestion.
Lessons Learnt
Efficient and prioritized appointment scheduling can decrease wait time for urgent cases, especially with reduced manpower. Clear guidelines required for all staff (admin, clinicians) to ensure smooth treatment journey. Call reminders reduced no-show rate by 18%, and help to alleviate call centre congestion.
Additional Information
Strategic Priority 1: Assign Patients Into Care Streams: By categorising patient's crown by urgency, quicker appointments can be given to the patients who need it the most to prevent tooth fracture. Regular education and engagement of the Polyclinic dental officers help to streamline referrals to the correct dental subspecialties so that patients do not have to wait unnecessarily. This will help to improve patient satisfaction. Operational Resilience: Reduce wait time for dental crown, increase efficiency of crown appointment scheduling. Reduce no show rates by calling patients to confirm and allowing patients to cancel appointments on Healthhub.
Keywords
Dental, Crowns, Root Canal, Wait Time, Prosthodontics
Innovators' Details
Innovators' Details
Healthcare Cluster(s) | National Healthcare Group |
Organization(s) Involved | Khoo Teck Puat Hospital |
Platform(s) | Yishun Health One Improvement Festival |
Healthcare Professional Group(s) | Medical |
Applicable Specialty or Discipline | Prosthodontics |
Project Lead(s) | Priscilla Sia |
Project Member(s) | Sophia Yee |
Connect with this contributor!
KTPH & YCH Innovation & Improvement (I&I) Office - i-i@ktph.com.sg
Project Attachment
775_KTPH_OIF 2025_Reducing Wait Time For Dental Crowns After Root Canal.pdf