Barriers and facilitators for prevention in Danish dental care

Objective: To explore barriers and facilitators to oral disease prevention in Danish dental care from a multi-stakeholder perspective. 

Methods: Eleven semi-structured focus groups and interviews about Danish oral healthcare were conducted with 27 stakeholders (general public, dental teams, dental policy makers) in Copenhagen. Transcripts were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis independently by KR and HL, supervised by JC and KVC. 

Results: Seven broad themes were identified, including both barriers and facilitators: Knowledge and attitudes, Education and training, Regulation, Incentivization, Multidisciplinary approach, Access to care and the Dental professional-patient relationship. Whilst all themes were relevant to each group of stakeholders, the salient driver within each theme was different for each group. 

Conclusions: Stakeholder perspectives on the Danish Oral health care system suggest the following are important features for a preventively focused system: (a) Involving all stakeholders in oral healthcare planning. (b) Securing sufficient and ongoing briefing regarding disease prevention for all stakeholders. (c) Regulatory support and creation of incentives to promote and facilitate implementation of disease prevention. (d) Appropriate prevention for disadvantaged groups within society which may be possible to a higher degree by means of multidisciplinary collaboration. (e) Personal relations between the patient and the professional based on mutual trust.