Dental therapists in general dental practice. A literature review and case-study analysis to determine what works, why, how and in what circumstances.

Introduction: In the United Kingdom, policy and guidance changes regarding the role of dental therapists (DTs) were implemented in recent years with a view to changing dental care to a more preventive-focussed, teamwork approach. However, success in the adoption of this model of working has been varied.

Aims: Adopting a realist approach, our aim was, to examine the use of DTs in general dental practices in Wales, exploring what works, why, how and in what circumstances.

Materials And Methods: The research comprised two stages. (a) A structured literature search, dual-coding papers for high-level factors describing the conditions or context(s) under which the mechanisms operated to produce outcomes. From this, we derived theories about how skill-mix operates in the general dental service. (b) Six case studies of general dental practices (three with a dental therapist/three without a dental therapist) employing a range of skill-mix models incorporating semi-structured interviews with all team members. We used the case studies/interviews to explore and refine the theories derived from the literature.

Results: Eighty-four papers were coded. From this coding, we identified seven theories which reflected factors influencing general dental practices within three broad contexts: the dental practice as a business, as a healthcare provider and as a workplace. We tested these theories in interviews with 38 dental team members across the six care studies. As a result, we amended five of the theories.

Conclusion: Our analysis provides theory about outcomes that DTs may facilitate and the mechanisms that may assist the work of DTs within different contexts of general dental practice.