Sepsis: the applicability to dental care professionals

This discussion paper gives an overview of current understanding around sepsis with the aim of raising awareness. NICE requires all healthcare professionals, including dental care professionals to be trained in identifying people who may have sepsis. Enhancing knowledge about sepsis will help the dental team to educate their patients about sepsis, recognise the pathognomonic warning signs and the need for rapid treatment. This paper describes the multiple missed opportunities to diagnose sepsis in a baby and it is hoped the impact of reading this from the mother's perspective will reduce the risk of this happening again.