Five years in the community dental service: clinicians' perspectives

Introduction Community dentists in England treat patients classed as vulnerable. The services in which they operate have faced challenges, with these known to have affected clinicians. It is important to monitor and understand the workforce and the effect the healthcare landscape, and its changes, has on them and the service they provide.Aims To explore and describe the evolution of working conditions of community dental service (CDS) dentists in England.Materials and methods Data for a cohort of dentists working in the CDS in England between 2017 and 2022, collected via questionnaire, were statistically and thematically analysed and data compared.Results Motivation in clinicians working in the service has significantly fallen since 2017 and concerns were held over the service meeting patient need. CDS dentists have become increasingly satisfied with the care they provide, though workload and job stress increased. Satisfaction with job terms and conditions increased significantly, though job satisfaction, with high and low morale, decreased over the period of interest. Working conditions and motivation were described as deteriorating, alongside increasing satisfaction with job terms and conditions, and fewer dentists reporting low morale. Factors cited as contributing to lower job satisfaction and morale were staffing, workload and working conditions.Conclusions We suggest that despite the increased pressures on the CDS, little improvement has been made to working conditions. The working environment continues to erode for CDS dentists in England and patient service is being negatively affected. While dentists appear to have adapted to these conditions, it is imperative that attention is paid both to CDS dentists and the service and improvements made.