GUMDISCUSS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Difficult dental conversations: Discussing gum (periodontal) disease
IRAS ID
279070
Contact name
Marion Bowman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 0 days
Research summary
The overarching aim of this research project is to explore how patients and dental care providers experience conversations about gum (periodontal) disease. These conversations are important because gum (periodontal) disease is a widespread condition that often doesn’t cause pain until the later stages when it is irreversible. Once it has become irreversible, it causes a lot of disruption to patients’ lives, and for some patients it can also be linked to diabetes and heart disease. Dental professionals from the School of Dentistry University of Leeds, have already been interviewed in the first stage of fieldwork for this study, and initial results show that the way a dental professional views their role, strongly influences the way they communicate with patients about gum (periodontal) disease.
In the second stage of fieldwork, (which is the focus of this application) the emphasis will be on exploring periodontal disease explanations from the patient’s perspective. The study will use remote individual semi-structured interviews of an hour or less in duration to explore the kinds of explanations of periodontal disease that patients have received. In the interview, patients will be asked about when and how they realised they had the condition and realised that it has potentially serious consequences. They will also be asked whether any particular communicative interactions acted as a trigger for personal behaviour change (e.g. smoking cessation, oral hygiene or dietary changes). Patients who meet the inclusion criteria will be identified by clinicians in a few local primary care practices which have agreed to participate in the study.
The aim of conducting this study is to gain insights into communicating about gum disease that will be relevant for training future dental students and for the ongoing professional development of registrants.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EM/0208
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion