A qualitative investigation of the influence of time since graduation on English dentists' approach to the care of young children.

BACKGROUND: In the UK, general dental practitioners (GDPs) provide the majority of dental care to young children. The approach to undergraduate teaching of paediatric dentistry varies across UK dental schools. There is no understanding of how undergraduate teaching influences practice in the first few years after qualification and how this influence behaves over time as dentists mature as clinicians. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of time since graduation on how GDPs manage the dental care of their child patients. DESIGN: A qualitative study, with three interviewers conducted 93 interviews with GDPs practising in the north-west of England. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and content analysis was used with the purpose of identifying themes from the data. RESULTS: Findings showed that formal postgraduate education was not a great influence upon the GDPs' approach to care over time. Change in approach was influenced by experiential learning over a GDP's career and external influences such as policy change, but this was not underpinned by any formal reflective practice. CONCLUSIONS: Education is just one of many influences on clinical practice over the whole of a clinician's career. A gradual change in clinical practice is influenced by the personal experience of dentists treating children.