Mid Sweden University

In Sweden there are different types of patient records from several professions, one of these are dental care. Previous archival science research has shown that the patient record can be important material to preserve for the future but nevertheless views on the preservation of dental records vary and have so done over time.

The purpose of the essay was to investigate what affects regional archives and private dental care providers' decisions about preservation, disposal and which values that make the dental records worth preserving. To answer the purpose qualitative written interviews have been conducted with seven respondents.

It appears that the dental records contains many different types of documents but it is not as information-dense as other types of patient records, which can make it difficult to assess its future value.

Theodore R. Schellenberg's theory of primary and secondary archival values shows that there is a need to save the dental records for a long time both for the caregivers themselves and others. Laws and regulations are what has the greatest impact on the preservation of dental records both at regional archives and private dental care providers, but the length of the preservation differs nevertheless between these caregivers.