Evaluating the General Dentists' Treatment Plans Practicing in a High-Income Area in Mashhad to Cosmetic Services Request; A field Study in 2022

Nowadays, the demand for cosmetic dental services has become widespread among many patients. This qualitative field study aimed to examine dentists’ treatment plans in response to a request for cosmetic services from a single patient. The researcher visited general dental offices in one of the privileged region’s streets in Mashhad after receiving a standard treatment plan from a specialized dental council as an unannounced standardized patient (USP) and a "real" patient. The researcher visited all the private general dental offices on that street using the total population sampling. In each visit, the researcher discussed the need for cosmetic dental services, and divided the dentist's cosmetic treatment plan into three categories: intervention, intermediate, and non-intervention. Dentists’ medical council numbers were divided into four categories: 1) 0 to 50 thousand, 2) 50 thousand to 100 thousand, 3) 100 thousand to 150 thousand, and 4) 150 thousand to 200 thousand. A total of 24 offices were visited. The treatment plans of eight dentists were prone to intervention (orthodontics and restorative cosmetic services of 1 to 10 units of composite veneer or ceramic laminate), nine dentists were not inclined to intervention, and seven dentists were classified as intermediate. Dentists proposed most interventional treatment plans with medical council numbers 100-150 thousand, and most non-interventional and intermediate treatment plans related to dentists in the 50-100 thousand group. There was a wide range of cosmetic treatment plans for a single patient. Therefore, standard instructions appear to be necessary to prevent non-standard treatments and overtreatments in cosmetic dentistry. It may be possible to improve the quality of cosmetic dental service provision by further examining dentists’ and dental students’ educational needs regarding the diagnosis and treatment of cosmetic complaints.