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Evaluation of postgraduate foundation training for dental therapists: does participation enhance career prospects?

British Dental Journal (2024)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 11 October 2024

This article has been updated

Abstract

Objectives This study explored the value of dental therapy foundation training (DTFT) in the UK and how participation influenced career prospects.

Aims To examine the efficacy of postgraduate foundation training for dental therapists (DTs) and evaluate whether participation increased clinical confidence. To investigate whether participation in the scheme enhanced career prospects and to determine barriers encountered by DTs in securing suitable positions, inclusive of COVID-19 restrictions.

Methods The study used a survey incorporating open, closed, Likert-scale and multiple-choice questions. Quantitative data were analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics v26. Analysis of qualitative data was undertaken by two researchers. Final themes and subthemes were confirmed following round table discussions.

Results A total of 94 survey responses were received: 61 from DTs who had not undertaken DTFT (Group A) and 33 who had undertaken DTFT (Group B). Most respondents were female (95%) with a mean age of 33.8 and 32.9 years, respectively. In total, 58.3% of Group A respondents did not believe that completing DTFT would have enhanced their career prospects, whereas 63.6% of Group B said that they gained a position as a result of completing DTFT. Participation in DTFT increased perceived clinical confidence in Group B and 81.8% were likely to recommend DTFT to their peers. A total of 12 major themes and 13 subthemes were identified.

Conclusions DTFT schemes were considered a valuable educational experience which increased clinical confidence. Participation may have enhanced career prospects. Barriers were encountered by DTs when seeking work, regardless of participation in DTFT.

Key points

  • With changes to the NHS contract, dental therapists can potentially be used more widely in primary dental care.

  • The recent publication Advancing dental care (2021) highlights the need for standardised foundation training for dental therapists.

  • The current situation of ‘dental deserts' across the UK is topical and implementation of dental care professionals is of interest.

  • Some readers may not appreciate the importance of postgraduate foundation training for dental therapists.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to containing information that could compromise the privacy of the research participants.

Change history

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Acknowledgements

With thanks to the 94 dental therapists who took the time to complete the survey and to the BADT for distributing the survey.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Defence Dental Therapist, Defence Primary Healthcare, UK

    Laura E. G. C. King

  2. Professor, University of Portsmouth Dental Academy, Faculty of Science and Health, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 2QG, UK

    David R. Radford

  3. Clinical Senior Lecturer in Dental Public Health and Research Lead, University of Portsmouth Dental Academy, Faculty of Science and Health, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 2QG, UK

    Carolina Machuca-Vargas

  4. Professor, Director and Head of School, University of Portsmouth Dental Academy, Faculty of Science and Health, University of Portsmouth, PO1 2QG, UK

    Chris Louca

Authors
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  2. David R. Radford
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Contributions

Laura E. G. C. King, David R. Radford, Carolina Machuca-Vargas contributed to the design of the research survey. Laura E. G. C. King, David R. Radford were responsible for the analysis of the results and the writing of the manuscript. Chris Louca reviewed the manuscript. Carolina Machuca-Vargas assisted with statistical analysis. The final version of the manuscript was approved by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura E. G. C. King.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

The research was granted ethical approval from the University of Portsmouth Science and Health Faculty Ethics Committee (reference: SHFEC 2020-×64). Participant information was included as part of the survey, detailing ethical approval, UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), how the data would be used, and a consent option.

Additional information

The original online version of this article was revised.

When initially published, there were errors within the ‘Results' section:

‘Of Group B, the majority of respondents (n = 12; 37.50%) undertook their DTFT scheme with NHSE Thames Valley and Wessex, Health Education and Improvement Wales (n = 6; 18.75%) and NHSE West Midlands (n = 4; 12.50%) were also well-represented' should have read ‘Of Group B, the majority of respondents (n = 12; 36.4%) undertook their DTFT scheme with NHSE Thames Valley and Wessex, Health Education and Improvement Wales (n = 6; 18.2%) and NHSE West Midlands (n = 4; 12.1%) were also well-represented.'

‘Across both groups, mixed general practice (NHS and private) was the most common workplace (Group A: 42.6%; Group B: 54.4%)' should have read ‘Across both groups, mixed general practice (NHS and private) was the most common workplace (Group A: 44.3%; Group B: 39.3%).'

‘Of Group A, most respondents indicated that the distribution of their working practice was mainly periodontal treatment (52.2%)...' should have read ‘Of Group A, most respondents indicated that the distribution of their working practice was mainly periodontal treatment (52.5%)...'

‘Overall, 24 (72.8%) out of 33 respondents agreed that the study days were well-matched to their learning needs, highlighting the importance of the study day curriculum. A total of 29 respondents (87.9%) agreed that they were personally well-integrated and accepted in the foundation training practice and 27 respondents (60.6%) agreed that their trainer (educational supervisor) provided good support' should have read ‘Overall, 24 (72.7%) out of 33 respondents agreed that the study days were well-matched to their learning needs, highlighting the importance of the study day curriculum. A total of 29 respondents (87.9%) agreed that they were personally well-integrated and accepted in the foundation training practice and 27 respondents (81.8%) agreed that their trainer (educational supervisor) provided good support.'

There were also incorrect values and inconsistencies in the number of decimal places shown in Table 2. The data have since been updated and report to one decimal place consistently.

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King, L., Radford, D., Machuca-Vargas, C. et al. Evaluation of postgraduate foundation training for dental therapists: does participation enhance career prospects?. Br Dent J (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-7718-8

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