Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has an impact on an individual's quality of life and general health, and can also affect their oral health. The patient's experiences, together with intraoral signs and symptoms could indicate the presence of OSA. Knowledge that the patient has, or is at high risk for having OSA can help the dental healthcare provider maintain the oral health and general health for these patients. The purpose was to explore dentists and dental hygienists' experiences when encountering adult patients with potential, untreated and treated OSA.

Methods: A qualitative inductive approach was used. Experienced dentists and dental hygienists working within Swedish Public Dental Service were strategically selected. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were performed followed by qualitative content analysis.

Results: Interviews from 13 participants, seven dental hygienist and six dentists, led to three areas describing varied experience: Importance of the patient encounter and identifying intraoral signs both of which describe experiences related to the importance of the initial unstructured conversation and focused clinical assessments, and strategies for nurturing care which point to interest about care, treatment, and collaborations with medical health care providers.

Conclusions: Dental professionals are not able to consistently recognize patients who have, or are at high risk for OSA. During the patient encounter, is it important to determine if a patient is at risk for, or has oral signs of OSA.