title: 'It's good enough': Swedish general dental practitioners on reasons for accepting substandard root filling quality.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The concept of 'good enough' is central and necessary in the assessment of root filling quality. The aim was to explore the concept by analysing reasons and arguments for the acceptance or rejection of substandard root filling quality as reported by general dental practitioners (GDPs) in Sweden.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was designed as a qualitative and exploratory study based on seven videotaped focus group interviews analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. Thirty-three GDPs employed in the Public Dental Health Service in Gothenburg, Sweden, participated (4-6 GDPs/interview). In all, nine predetermined questions were followed. Before each focus group, the participants received radiographs of 37 root fillings and were asked to assess the root filling quality. The three cases representing the most divergent assessments served as a basis for the discussion. The cases were presented without clinical information; the dentists would relate to the cases as being just root filled by themselves.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The radiographs did not provide a sufficient basis for decisions on whether or not to accept the root filling. This study emphasized that dentists did not primarily look for these arguments in the technical details of the root filling per se, but instead, they considered selected features of the contextual situation. The GDPs constantly introduced relevant 'ad hoc considerations' to account for the decisions they made. These contextual considerations were related to aspects of pulpal and periapical disease, risks (e.g. technical complications) or to consumed resources (personal and/or economic).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was obvious that the concept of 'good enough' does not exist as a general formula ready to be applied in particular situations. Instead, it is necessarily and irremediably tied to contextual properties that emerge from case to case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontology, Institute of Odontology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.|Public Dental Health Service, Västra Götaland Region, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dahlström
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lindwall
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rystedt
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontology, Institute of Odontology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reit
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000066491:Clinical Decision-Making; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005792:General Practice, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists'; D012389:Root Canal Obturation; D018915:Root Canal Preparation; D013548:Sweden
keywords: focus group discussions; general dental practitioners; good enough treatment; qualitative study; root filling quality