Preventive Orientation and Caries Management by Iranian Dentists

Dentists’ decisions result in considerable variation in treatment practices which may associate with differences in the appropriateness of care. A wide range of factors may govern dentist’s treatment philosophy beyond just biological and technical factors such as probability of disease clinical benefits risks and costs to the patient economic benefit to the dentist and impact on the dentist’s self-image. Deeper under­standing of these factors is necessary in order to improve the quality of oral health care. Although substantial resources are allocated to clinical research the implementation of research evidence in clinical care has not received much attention. Dentists are expected to update their knowledge regarding the best care options. They have also an ethical responsibility for transferring this knowledge to the public. This book therefore focuses on the underlying determinants of a preventive orientation among dentists and their perceived barriers to the provision of preventive dental care. The analyses and findings should be especially useful to researchers in the field of oral public health health policy makers and all dentists.