Since dentists play an important role in the emergence and maintenance of dental anxiety in patients, it is imperative to understand how dentists themselves evaluate their work with anxious patients and how they perceive their environment. Semi-structured interviews explored the working lives of six dentists. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four superordinate themes: Negotiating identities, Control, Perceptions of dentistry and being a dentist and Stress related to treating dentally anxious patients. Warranting investigation in other settings, specialist dentists experienced conflicts between being a helper and inflictor of pain, as well as dealing with conflicting views concerning their status as a dentist.
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