Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
December 2014
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
31
Issue:
4

Utilisation of oral health services provided by non-dental health practitioners in developed countries: a review of the literature

© BASCD 2014 doi:10.1922/CDH_3465Hoang10

Utilisation of oral health services provided by non-dental health practitioners in developed countries: a review of the literature
T. Barnett, Ha Hoang, J. Stuart, L. Crocombe and E. Bell

Objective: People who have limited access to dental care may present to non-dental health practitioners for dental treatment and advice. This review synthesised the available evidence regarding the use of non-dental health practitioners for oral health problems and the services provided by non-dental health practitioners to manage such presentations. Methods: PubMed and CINAHL databases were searched using key search terms to identify all relevant quantitative and qualitative English-language studies published between 1990 and March 2014. Snowballing techniques were then applied whereby the reference lists of retrieved articles were searched for other relevant citations. Grey literature was searched via Google using the same search terms to identify unpublished work and government reports. Results: Of the 43 papers which met the review criteria, 25 papers reported on the use of non-dental health practitioners for oral health problems and 18 on dental care education and training for non-dental health practitioners. Four reports were located from the grey literature on the involvement of non-dental health practitioners in the management of oral health care. Conclusions: The review of literature showed that both children and adults utilise non-dental health practitioners for oral health problems. Despite this, Emergency Department medical staff, medical practitioners and pharmacists generally lacked training and knowledge in the management of oral health. Services from non-dental health practitioners mainly focussed on children. The literature on education and training for non-dental health practitioners was limited.

Key words: review, non-dental health practitioners, services, training, education, rural and remote, dental health, health outcomes research, allied health, aboriginal health workers, indigenous health workers

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
224
Page End
233
Authors
T. Barnett, Ha Hoang, J. Stuart, L. Crocombe, E. Bell

Articles from this issue

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  1. The European Association of Dental Public Health conference resolution on the control of e-cigarettes; Or “You have to be a bit crazy to carry on smoking conventional cigarettes when there are e-cigarettes available”
  2. 194
  3. 195

  1. Integrating oral health into a dementia care pathway
  2. 196
  3. 199

  1. Weighing up the Weighted Case Mix Tool (WCMT): a psychometric investigation using confirmatory factor analysis
  2. 200
  3. 206

  1. Implementation partnerships in a community-based intergenerational oral health study
  2. 207
  3. 211

  1. Trends and predictors of primary dental care health services for adults in Israel
  2. 212
  3. 218

  1. Dentists’ views on the effects of changing economic conditions on dental services provided for children and adolescents in Iceland
  2. 219
  3. 223

  1. Utilisation of oral health services provided by non-dental health practitioners in developed countries: a review of the literature
  2. 224
  3. 233

  1. Associations between schools’ guidelines and pupils’ smoking and sweet consumption
  2. 234
  3. 239

  1. The impact of oral health status on the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of 12-year-olds from children’s and parents’ perspectives
  2. 240
  3. 244

  1. Validity of a questionnaire in estimating restorative treatment need among young adults
  2. 245
  3. 250

  1. Validating a measure of the prevalence of dental anxiety as applied to Kuwaiti adolescents
  2. 251
  3. 256