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Background: Studies to promote regular toothbrushing usually rely on self‐reports of toothbrushing frequency (SRF). However, toothbrushing frequency measures may be open to responder bias since twice‐daily toothbrushing is a commonly accepted social norm. The validity of SRF measures is unclear, meaning that their use as outcomes in interventional work may be flawed. The study's aim was to compare two different self‐reported toothbrushing measures: SRF and the Self‐Reported Behavioural Automaticity Index (SRBAI); with measurement of observed toothbrushing frequency tracked over 6 weeks. A secondary aim was to explore the interaction effect of various moderators (age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), sex, self‐efficacy, participant personality and routine preference) upon the correlation between SRBAI and observed toothbrushing frequency. Methods: One hundred and sixty‐four adults were recruited via a number of different community groups and workplaces outside the dental setting. After consent, participants completed a questionnaire which collected demographic and participant characteristics measures (age, ethnicity, SES, sex, self‐efficacy, participant personality and routine preference) and self‐reported toothbrushing habits. Participants then attached a 'Brushlink' device to their toothbrush for 6 weeks to track their observed toothbrushing frequency. Results: Using the Pearson correlation coefficient, a moderately strong positive linear association (r = 0.65) between SRBAI and observed toothbrushing frequency was found. By comparison, the correlation between SRF and observed toothbrushing frequency was weak (r = 0.39). There was a weak positive association between self‐reported behaviour frequency and SRBAI score (r = 0.35). Using multivariable linear regression, no statistically significant interactional effect was demonstrated for any moderator variable upon the correlation coefficient of SRBAI and observed toothbrushing frequency. Conclusions: The SRBAI provided a stronger association with observed toothbrushing frequency than the SRF measure. A moderately strong relationship between SRBAI and observed toothbrushing frequency was found, compared to a weak positive relationship between self‐reported behaviour frequency and SRBAI score. This suggests that the SRBAI score could be a suitable proxy to measure observed toothbrushing behaviour and preferable to SRF in interventional work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Toothbrushing is generally considered as a key self‐care behaviour necessary for maintaining good oral health. Although twice‐daily brushing is widely recommended as beneficial since this provides both biofilm removal and a regular application of fluoride, some people such as those with low socio‐economic (SES) backgrounds often brush less regularly. Habit theory identifies that behaviours become habitual when they are undertaken repeatedly in response to a particular cue within a stable context. Once behaviour becomes automatic, long‐term maintenance is more likely even if motivation wanes. Establishing toothbrushing as a habitual behaviour is therefore an intervention strategy which may help reduce health inequalities. Therefore, the objective was to more fully understand the nature of toothbrushing behaviour in adults and what prompts its instigation and execution in the morning and evening, in order to inform the design of interventions in this area. Methods: Twenty‐nine semi‐structured interviews were undertaken in an urgent dental care centre in a deprived area of North West England. Thematic analysis using a framework method was used to code the data into theoretically derived categories. Results: Morning toothbrushing was found to be strongly integrated into cleansing routines and was identified as a behaviour predominantly initiated in response to visual cues. Some toothbrushing behaviour was prompted by internal cues, expressed as strong feelings or urges. These were more related to night‐time toothbrushing habits. Common morning motivators were aesthetics and social acceptability. Evening motivators were relatively idiosyncratic. Cleaning of the mouth following a hard, manual working day emerged as a strong driver for low SES males. Conclusion: Understanding the nature of habitual morning and evening toothbrushing is important for the design of effective behavioural interventions, especially those aiming to achieve sustainable improvement in the frequency of night‐time toothbrushing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore barriers to planned dental visiting, investigating how barriers interlink, how they accumulate and change, and how individuals envisage overcoming their combination of barriers through personal strategies. Methods: An ethnographic study was conducted of adult urgent dental care attenders who did not have a dentist, including 155 hours of nonparticipant observations, 97 interviews and 19 follow‐up interviews in six urgent dental care settings. Data were analysed using constant comparison, first identifying barriers and personal strategies to overcome them, and subsequently analysing interlinks between barriers and personal strategies. Results: Accounts of barriers to planned dental visiting encompassed multiple barriers, which related to socioeconomic circumstances as well as experiences of oral health care. Barriers were multi‐layered and more difficult to overcome when occurring together. Personal strategies to overcome diverse barriers often hinged on increasing importance of oral health to individuals, yet this was not always sufficient. The combination of barriers participants experience was dynamic, changing due to personal, family, or employment circumstances, and with increasing severity of barriers over time. Over time, this could lead to higher cost, and additional barriers, particularly embarrassment. Conclusion: Barriers to planned dental visiting are complex, multi‐layered and change over time, constituting a 'web of causation'. This adds a novel perspective to the literature on barriers to dental visiting, and requires that researchers, dental practitioners and policy makers remain open to barriers' interlinked effects, changes in primacy among individual patients' barriers, and their accumulation over time to better support uptake of planned dental visiting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore socioeconomic status (SES) differences in patterns of doctor‐patient communication within head and neck cancer clinics and why such differences exist. Methods: Thirty‐six head and neck cancer review appointments with five Physicians were observed and audio‐taped, along with follow‐up interviews involving 32 patients. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis, and compared by patient SES (education, occupation and Indices of Multiple Deprivation). Results: Three main themes were identified: (a) Physicians used more humour and small talk in their consultations with high SES patients; (b) Low SES patients were more passive in their participation, engaged in less agenda setting and information‐seeking, and framed their clinical experience differently; (c) Low SES patients had different preferences for involvement, defining involvement differently to high SES patients and were seen to take a more stoical approach. Conclusion: Low SES patients take a more passive role in medical consultations, engage in less relational talk and are less likely to raise concerns, but were satisfied with this. Physicians may adapt their communication behaviour in response to low SES patients' expectations and preferences. Practice Implications: A question prompt list may help low SES patients to raise concerns during their consultations. This may reduce inequalities in communication and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The degree to which patients participate in their care can have a positive impact on health outcomes. This review aimed to map the current literature on patient participation behaviours in interactions with physicians and the extent to which differences in these behaviours can be explained by socio‐economic status (SES). Search strategy: Four electronic databases were searched from 1980 onwards using key words related to socio‐economic status and patient participation behaviours. Study selection: Titles, abstracts and full texts were screened by two reviewers, with the second reviewer screening 20% of all entries. Data extraction: Data on year of publication, country, patient population, setting, patient participation behaviour studied, and SES measure used were extracted. Main results: Forty‐nine studies were included in the review. Most studies were conducted in the United States, and the most commonly studied patient participation behaviour was involvement in decision making. Most studies measured SES using education as an indicator, with very few studies using occupation as a measure. Many studies did not report on participants' medical condition or study setting. Patient participation in their health‐care appointment increased with increasing SES in 24 studies, although in 27 studies no significant association was found. Discussion and conclusions: Current literature was found to be mainly US‐centric. Many studies did not specify participants' medical condition or in what setting the study was undertaken. More studies are needed on less commonly studied patient participation behaviours. It would be helpful for further studies to also include a wider range of SES indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In many countries, those with lower socioeconomic status are disproportionately affected by poor oral health. This can be attributed, at least in part, to differences in preventive dental visiting. While several theories have been applied to the area, they generally fail to capture the recursive nature of dental visiting behaviour, and fall short of informing the design of complex interventions to tackle inequalities. Objective To undertake a systematic review and synthesis of theory in order to provide an overview of the pathways which bring about socioeconomic inequalities in early dental visiting, and identify possible intervention points. Methods Electronic searching identified 8947 titles and abstracts. Paper screening and citation snowballing left 77 included papers. Drawing on the tenets of Critical Interpretive Synthesis, data extraction involved capturing concepts and relationships and translating these sometimes into synthetic constructs. Results We theorize that at the individual (micro-level), dental visiting behaviour is influenced by: the ' Importance of obtaining care', ' Emotional response' and ' Perceived control', which feed into a balancing of ' Competing Demands' against ' Internal resources' (coping, self-identity), although attendance is tempered by the effective ' Affordability and Availability of services'. Positive Care experiences are theorized to lower the demands and increase internal resources associated with dental visiting. We also outline meso-level factors ' Social norms and sanctions', 'Obligations, expectations and trust', 'Information channels', 'Social structures' and theorize how these can exert an overwhelming influence in deprived areas. Conclusions Socioeconomic inequalities in early dental visiting emerge from several stages in the care-seeking process. Dental visiting behaviour should be viewed not just as a one-off event, but extending over time and social space. Since there is recursivity in peoples' most recent dental experience any future visits we identify that interventions which make care a positive experience for low socioeconomic patients may be particularly beneficial in reducing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Diet diaries are recommended for dentists to monitor children's sugar consumption. Diaries provide multifaceted dietary information, but patients respond better to simpler advice. We explore how dentists integrate information from diet diaries to deliver useable advice to patients. Methods As part of a questionnaire study of general dental practitioners ( GDPs) in Northwest England, we asked dentists to specify the advice they would give a hypothetical patient based upon a diet diary case vignette. A sequential mixed method approach was used for data analysis: an initial inductive content analysis ( ICA) to develop coding system to capture the complexity of dietary assessment and delivered advice. Using these codes, a quantitative analysis was conducted to examine correspondences between identified dietary problems and advice given. From these correspondences, we inferred how dentists reduced problems to give simple advice. Results A total of 229 dentists' responses were analysed. ICA on 40 questionnaires identified two distinctive approaches of developing diet advice: a summative (summary of issues into an all-encompassing message) and a selective approach (selection of a main message approach). In the quantitative analysis of all responses, raw frequencies indicated that dentists saw more problems than they advised on and provided highly specific advice on a restricted number of problems (e.g. not eating sugars before bedtime 50.7% or harmful items 42.4%, rather than simply reducing the amount of sugar 9.2%). Binary logistic regression models indicate that dentists provided specific advice that was tailored to the key problems that they identified. Conclusion Dentists provided specific recommendations to address what they felt were key problems, whilst not intervening to address other problems that they may have felt less pressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harris RV, Sun N. Dental practitioner concepts of efficiency related to the use of dental therapists. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2012. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S Abstract - Objectives: Efficiency is concerned with producing maximum output with the minimum input, although what constitutes inputs and outputs within an organization is not always clear. Labour substitution is one method of achieving efficiency gains, although cost savings are found to be context dependent and may not be achieved in some situations. Because dental therapists (DTs) in England are permitted to work in dental practices, we set out to investigate how efficiency with respect to the use of DTs is conceptualized by practitioners to deepen our understanding of the potential for substitution to realize efficiency gains in dental practice. Methods: Nine dental practices were selected using a purposive sampling methodology to give a range of practice size and DT employment arrangements. Semi-structured interviews were held with 26 dentists. Transcripts were coded and analysed thematically. Results: Efficiency was perceived as optimum use of surgery time to generate intermediate outputs of (i) managing patient flow to give patient satisfaction and business cash flow and (ii) volume of work (procedures and numbers of patients). DT efficiency gains were evaluated according to whether lower labour costs were offset by a slower working pace and higher rate of failed appointments. Patient need and demand, and whether the practice had health improvement goals, influenced whether DTs were deemed to improve efficiency. Conclusions: Findings are in accord with skill mix reviews in wider health care that substitution may be effective in improving efficiency but this may be limited to particular situations where conditions are conducive. More studies are needed to explore these issues further in other dental practice contexts and with other groups of dental auxiliary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]