Exploring dentists? strategies for overcoming failure in daily dental practice

Objective: This study aimed to explore the strategies used by dentists to overcome failure in their daily practice. Methods: In-depth interviews and qualitative description were used in the study. Fifteen dentists with more than 5 years of clinical practice experience participated. After consent was obtained, the interview was audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: All participants had experienced failure during dental practice and used various strategies for overcoming it. Seven strategies were identified. These related to the dentists themselves (reflecting, learning, correcting), colleague dentists (asking, referring), patients (communicating), and advances in dentistry (adopting). Conclusions: Strategies for overcoming failure are related to multiple factors. Dentists need to comprehensively consider various strategies to achieve the best outcome when faced with failure. As lifelong learners, dentists need to continually develop competencies for overcoming failure. Clinical significance: Failures occur in everyday life, and clinical dentistry is no exception. Therefore, strategies for overcoming failure will help ensure patient safety and provide high-quality dental care.