Dental therapy in the United Kingdom: part 4. Teamwork--is it working for dental therapists?

Objectives: To determine whether practising dental therapists, including dually qualified hygienist/therapists, considered themselves to be part of the clinical team and whether clinical work referred to them met with their expectations.

Methods: A postal survey enquired about work experiences of UK dental therapists, as previously described earlier in the series.

Results: While they certainly considered themselves to be part of the clinical team, the majority of respondents did not feel 'fully utilised'. Seventy percent of respondents felt that the dentist had more patients that could be referred and 55% thought that they could do more extensive work. There was concern that dentists lacked awareness of therapists' clinical potential, although some respondents highlighted very positive experiences in practice.

Conclusions: Dental therapists feel that they are part of the clinical team but consider that their skills are not fully utilised in many cases. There is scope for raising awareness among dentists regarding the therapists' clinical potential as well as sharing ideas for good working practice both within individual clinical settings and between different practices.