The working practices and job satisfaction of dental therapists: findings of a national survey

Abstract

Dental therapy offers a potentially rewarding career in terms of job satisfaction. Any planned increase in the numbers of training places for dental therapists should their role be expanded, for example to include working in general dental practice, would need to take cognisance of the high rate of part-time working and the proportion who could be expected to take career breaks at some point in their working lives, as is the case with female dental practitioners.

A national survey of dental hygienists: working patterns and job satisfaction

“…However the findings reported here do corroborate previous studies, similar findings have been reported in surveys of dental hygienists both within the UK and abroad, [9][10][11][12][13] and amongst dental therapists. 3 Generally the job satisfaction of female dental practitioners has been low. 16 A commitment to continuing education and personal development was evident (echoing the findings of the BDHA national survey) 10 .…”

“…[1][2][3][4] The impetus for this has arisen from two sources; the recognition of the important role of professionals complementary to dentistry, 5 and the necessity to consider the influence of changing work patterns upon human resource planning. 6,7 This paper describes the working practices and job satisfaction of United Kingdom dental hygienists.…”

Dental therapy in the United Kingdom: part 3. Financial aspects of current working practices

“…3 In the past, evaluation of therapists' output has shown it to be comparable to that of hygienists, 4 while high productivity can result from incentives and organisation. [5][6][7] Since UK therapists do not require direct personal supervision, they may be more cost-effective than their American counterparts. 2 For many years, dental therapists were restricted to working in the hospital and salaried public dental services (SDS) performing a limited range of clinical competencies.…”

The workforce of professionals complementary to dentistry in the general dental services: a survey of general dental practices in the South West

“…This includes the working patterns of dental teams, the training experiences of PCDs and their commitment to a career in dentistry. Previous surveys have focused on the working practices of individual groups of PCDs, [17][18][19][20][21][22] whereas little work has been done to explore working arrangements in the general dental services. 23 Workforce Development Confederations (WDCs) hold the budget for training of clinical professions working in the mainstream NHS.…”