Conclusions

Quality is a primary consideration of dental treatment and oral health. Dental teams work in all settings, from publicly funded to private care, hospitals and clinics, affluent and low-income settings. No matter the setting and the context, dental services seek to deliver the best care they can with the resources they have available to them. As discussed in Chapter 1, quality is multi-dimensional. It can also be considered as hierarchical: most people would identify patient and staff safety as the foundation on which services should be built. Issues such as infection control and radiation safety are fundamental to the delivery of dental care. Staff wellbeing is similarly important. Exposure to environmental risks, verbal abuse and violence, exploitative work relationships and musculoskeletal problems all occur in many dental settings. Patients often take safety for granted, and staff should also be able to assume they will be safe at work. As all dental teams know, however, delivering patient and staff safety is not effortless.