How do we improve quality in primary dental care?

Quality improvement differs from quality assurance (which is retrospective in nature) in that it attempts to use a quality assessment cycle and focuses on the organisation or system of production as a whole. In this paper, the third in a series of three published in this Journal, we discuss the concept and evidence base of quality improvement, the main approaches that have been used in other healthcare settings and the importance of a multi-faceted strategy to address this issue. These topics are then related to the context of primary dental care and the way dentistry currently addresses quality improvement. Finally, we set out an agenda and provide recommendations for a system-based quality improvement strategy for primary dental care and identify the likely barriers and facilitators for this approach.