Promotive and Preventive Factors Influencing Adapting of Resin Infiltration: A Qualitative Study

The aim of this qualitative study was to identify Finnish dentists' perspectives on resin infiltration (RI). The specific targets of interest were promotive and preventive factors influencing the implementation of RI.

A Webropol-based electronic questionnaire was sent to all members of the Finnish Dental Association (FDA) via a regular newsletter in spring 2022. The questionnaire was resent in September 2022 to the supervisors of dentists for further distribution. In addition to the structured questions, respondents were allowed to provide free-form comments on RI. All open-ended comments (n = 59) were derived, analyzed, and grouped using inductive content analysis to create sub- and main categories.

In the content analysis, four main categories were obtained: The first main category, "Competence," was divided into Competence-maintaining skills, Attitude, and Demanding technique generic categories. The second main category, "Resources," was divided into Costs and Human resources generic categories. The third main category, "Caries control" included one generic category, Timing of resin infiltration. Division of tasks was the generic category of the fourth main category, "Working duties." The most frequent barriers for the use of RI were limited resources-both monetary and human resources-and lack of competence.

Finnish dentists seem to be willing to adopt new procedures. New treatments such as RI require adequate resources, and both theoretical and practical training.