Dental professionals’ perception of their role in the practice of oral health promotion: a qualitative interview study

Abstract

Objective To explore dental professionals’ perceptions of their role in the practice of oral health promotion. Material and method In-depth interviews were conducted with three dentists, one specialist dentist and seven dental hygienists. All were employed in the public dental service in Kalmar County, Sweden and had at least 2 years’ work experience. The interview questions addressed the experience and views of dental professionals with reference to their role in the practice of health promotion. The interview data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. Results Analysis revealed two themes which capture the essence of the dental professionals’ perception of their role in the practice of oral health promotion. One theme, having person-focused approach, comprised four categories: ‘considering the patient’s life situation’, ‘establishing a trusting relationship with patients’, ‘strengthening patients’ commitment to oral health’ and ‘health education’. The other theme, perceiving social responsibility for oral health, comprised three categories: ‘dissemination of oral health knowledge’, ‘interprofessional collaboration’ and ‘equality in oral health care’. Conclusion Dental professionals perceived promotion of oral health to be an important aspect of their professional role. They aspired to patient participation in the decision-making process and educational activities, as well as practising and evaluating skills development. Although the dental professionals perceived that they undertook health promotion activities, they did not clearly distinguish between oral health promotion and disease prevention. There was intra- and inter-professional agreement among the dentists and dental hygienists with respect to expected outcomes for health promotion activities.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception among Dental Graduate Practitioners about Presurgical Naso-alveolar Molding Therapy in cleft lip/palate infants: A Questionnaire-based Survey

“…[31] A study done by Dao et al [23] found that most of the participants felt a lack of facilities including equipment to treat these patients. Therefore, similar to other studies , [23][24][25]32] even in the current survey it was presumed that the majority of dentists wished to have or attend additional training in the form of a hands-on workshop or an audio-visual lecture to provide more insights about the PSNAM.…”

“…It is also essential that both medical and dental professionals together are responsible for infants with deformities to seek infant oral health care . [25] Both professionals should work together to approximately educate and train themselves to be able to provide comprehensive treatment . [25] Even for the question of knowledge about the design of the PSNAM appliance maximum number of participants were not aware of the appliance design, which was again attributed to the fact that insufficient curriculum was provided for the undergraduate students.…”

“…[25] Both professionals should work together to approximately educate and train themselves to be able to provide comprehensive treatment . [25] Even for the question of knowledge about the design of the PSNAM appliance maximum number of participants were not aware of the appliance design, which was again attributed to the fact that insufficient curriculum was provided for the undergraduate students. [19,22] Concerning necessity of PSNAM prior to definitive surgery, the majority of the dentists responded positively which might be due to the little, incomplete information acquired from colleagues, magazines, or from watching information on social media.…”