Objective To use a qualitative approach to examine the perceptions of policy makers, general dental practitioners, dental hygienists, dental students and dental hygiene students in the Netherlands following the introduction of a direct access policy in 2006. Methods Semi-structured interviews and focus …

OBJECTIVES: This study compares the scope of practice of Dutch dental hygienists (DHs) educated through a 2- or 3-year curriculum ('old-style DHs') with that of hygienists educated through a new extended 4-year curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree ('new-style DHs'), with the aim to investigate whether …

The imbalance between demand and supply in Dutch healthcare led to the introduction of task redistribution at the beginning of the 21st century. Some new occupations arrived, and many, especially occupations in allied healthcare, underwent major changes in scope of practice and authorization. One example …

In research into a professional cross-section of dental hygienists, we studied the extent to which task redistribution has an influence on job satisfaction. The research among randomly chosen dental hygienists consisted of questions about organizational and personal characteristics, the set of assigned …

OBJECTIVE: To identify the determinants of dental caries in relation to socio-economic status (SES) within oral health, children's eating habits and parental attitudes towards oral health. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Dental screening data were collected from 6- and 10-year-old schoolchildren from low and …