This grounded theory study aimed to generate a conceptual framework explaining the main concerns about "difficult" dental patients, and obtain a deeper understanding of their characteristics, how they affect the dental staff and how the staff think and act in order to manage these patients. Ten interviews were conducted with dental caregivers. The main concern was "balancing subjective difficulties," encompassing patient characteristics (interaction difficulties and bio-psycho-social complexity), their effects on staff (negative emotions, hampered self-esteem, impaired life/health), and staff strategies (activating internal/external resources, adaptive treatment relations). The study highlights the dynamic interplay between patient factors and caregiver capacity, emphasizing the need for further research on dental interactions and a broader perspective on "difficult" patients.

Adam Alvenfors, Mersiha Velic, Bertil Marklund, Sven Kylén, Peter Lingström, Jenny Bernson