Is Dentistry in Crisis? An Online Survey of Iranian Dentists’ Attitudes toward La Cascada Declaration

Abstract

In August 2017, six international senior dental researchers published a critical declaration called ‘La Cascada; Dentistry in Crisis: Time to Change’. This statement outlined major concerns with the current trajectory of the dental profession and proposed recommendations for change. This study piloted an online survey among an exploratory convenience sample of 138 Iranian dentists, ensuring a suitable gender mix and a representative mix of generalists and specialists. The questionnaire included two main questions about the respondents’ agreement with the declaration and some of the recommendations. The majority (72.2%) of the 138 participants expressed agreement with the messages of the La Cascada Declaration by selecting 4 or 5 on a 5-point Likert scale. However, there was not a strong consensus among participants regarding all six selected recommendations. In conclusion, it appears that groups of dentists agree that the dental profession is facing a crisis. However, the profession has not yet reached a consensus on solutions.