Screening of atrial fibrillation in dental practices: a qualitative feasibility study

ABSTRACT

Objectives

To increase the detection of unknown atrial fibrillation (AF), general practitioners have started screening their patients using small hand-held devices. It is thought that dental settings could be utilized for screening as they have regular access to patients. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of dental staff of screening for AF using a hand-held electronic device in primary dental care.

Methods

The research took place in one large mixed NHS and private general dental practice. Views from staff including dentists, dental therapists, dental nurses, and managers were elicited via semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face, audio recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Interviews continued until there were no new themes or patterns emerging from the data, and thematic saturation had been achieved.

Results

Eleven participants were interviewed. The main themes generated were methodology for screening, acceptability for screening within the practice, attitudes to screening, and implementation of screening. Overall, participants were positive about implementing AF screening in a dental practice but expressed concerns about time and remuneration. Staff also gave encouraging feedback regarding the simplicity of the portable screening device.

Conclusions

Participants felt that AF screening in primary care dental practices was a good concept but may be challenging to implement in NHS Dentistry, especially due to the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Atrial fibrillation
• screening
• general dental practice
• dentistry
• qualitative
• primary dental care
• cardiovascular disease

Declaration of interest

DA Lane has received investigator-initiated educational grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Pfizer, has been a speaker for Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and BMS/Pfizer and has consulted for BMS and Boehringer Ingelheim, all out-with the current study. DA Lane is co-investigator of the AFFIRMO project on multimorbidity in AF, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 899871.

GYH Lip is a consultant and speaker for BMS/Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Anthos. No fees are received personally. GYH Lip is a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator and co-principal investigator of the AFFIRMO project on multimorbidity in AF, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 899871.

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14779072.2023.2254679.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partly funded by the Oral and Dental Research Trust OHI Previser Award 2020. In this study, the funding was used to partly cover costs of University approved external transcription service, the funders had not provided any input to the study and no salary was provided to any of the authors.