Dental providers' perceptions of the feasibility and acceptability of implementing vaccine administration programs in dental settings: A qualitative study

Objectives

Involving dental offices in routine vaccinations could have a positive impact on public health. In this study, we assessed dental providers' attitudes and perceptions regarding implementing vaccination in dental settings.

Methods

We performed semi-structured interviews with 31 dental providers (25 dentists and 6 dental hygienists) enrolled in the Western region of the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network as of June 28, 2021. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. We analyzed transcripts using deductive and inductive coding approaches.

Results

We identified three main themes that captured the perceptions of dental practitioners regarding the feasibility of implementing vaccine administration in a dental setting: (1) dental practitioners perceive contributing to the public health mission of disease prevention as having high value, (2) dental practitioners face considerable complexity when deciding whether to implement vaccine administration, and (3) dental practitioners do not understand current laws and associated reimbursement models related to vaccine administration.

Conclusions

To make vaccination commonplace in dental practices, legal changes to allow dental practitioners to administer vaccines should be followed by concrete guidance and relevant trainings to help interested dental practitioners successfully implement vaccination programs in their clinical settings.