Research abstract
British Dental Journal 201, 45 - 51 (2006)
Published online: 8 July 2006 | doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.4813774
Subject Category: Primary dental care
General health promotion in general dental practice — The involvement of the dental team Part 2: A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the views of practice principals in South Yorkshire
T A Dyer & P G Robinson2
- Dental teams could contribute to meeting Government targets for reducing coronary heart disease and cancer.
- Dentists' views on involvement in general health promotion were influenced by whether they saw the purpose of dentistry as achieving health or treating disease. Those with more of a health focus were already involved and wanted to do more.
- Dental teams' involvement in general health promotion is lower than might be expected given reported views on its relevance to dentistry.
- Although barriers to involvement included time and financial factors, current workload and lack of personal skills, fewer dentists felt that these were barriers for PCDs.
The term Professionals Complementary to Dentistry (PCDs) has been retained in this report as this was the accepted term for Dental Care Professionals at the time of data collection and when the paper was accepted for publication
Abstract
Aim To investigate the factors that might influence the provision of general health promotion through seven different health interventions by dental teams in general dental practice.
Method A mixed-method was used comprising cross-sectional qualitative research using semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of 10 practice principals, and a cross sectional survey of a practice principal from every dental practice in South Yorkshire, using a self-complete questionnaire.
Results Two core categories emerged from the qualitative data: seeing health or disease and practitioners' views of the structure of dental practice. The former refers to the participants' general outlook and cut across many dimensions constituting the structure of dental practice. Health-orientated dentists were more likely to be involved in prevention and were more open-minded to expanding the dental team's role into general health promotion. However participants perceived that barriers existed to involvement such as time and financial factors, current workload and lack of personal skills. The response rate of useable questionnaires in the cross sectional survey was 84%. Reported levels of involvement in general health promotion were low. Most frequently reported barriers were 'insufficient funding' and 'poor use of time'. 'Poor use of time' and 'lack of training/knowledge' were reported less frequently for professionals complementary to dentistry (PCDs) than dentists (p<0.05). Most dentists agreed that PCDs could be trained to deliver health interventions and would be happy for PCDs to do so in their practice if reported barriers were removed.
Conclusions Although dental teams' involvement in general health promotion is low, there is willingness to increase involvement, particularly among health-orientated dentists. Some reported barriers to involvement might be removed by impending changes to the GDS in England. Other important factors include a lack of education and workforce shortages of dentists and PCDs. Respondents indicated a high regard for PCDs and there was broad agreement that they were suitable to be involved in this work.
- Specialist Registrar in Dental Public Health, Directorate of Public Health, Rotherham and Barnsley Primary Care Trusts, Bevan House, Oakwood Hall Drive, Rotherham, S60 3AQ
- Professor of Dental Public Health, Department of Oral Health and Development, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Claremont Crescent, Sheffield, S10 2TA
Correspondence to: T A Dyer e-mail: t.dyer@sheffield.ac.uk
