Exploring barriers to delivering oral hygiene advice in general dental practice

Evidence suggests that not all dental professionals (DPs) routinely deliver oral hygiene advice (OHA); a crucial component of holistic dental care. Barriers exist to DPs giving OHA in general dental practice. This study explores DPs perspectives on barriers to delivering OHA in general dental practice. An online convenience sample of UK DPs completed an anonymous cross-sectional questionnaire. Data is presented using descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests. Ethical approval was given by University of Bristol Faculty of Health Science Research Ethics Committee (FREC) (Ref: 104966). Between 15 June 2020 and 15 December 2020, 154 dentists and 167 dental hygienists/therapists (DH/DT) completed the questionnaire. 85 (55.2%) of dentists and 138 (82.6%) of DH/DT agreed that undergraduate training prepared them to deliver OHA in general practice (p