Access to oral health care for undocumented migrants: Perspectives of actors involved in a voluntary dental network in the Netherlands

Midde, Myrthe van; Hesse, Iris; Heijden, Geert J. M. G. van der; Duijster, Denise; Elteren, Marianne van; Kroesen, Margreet; Agyemang, Charles; Beune, Erik

doi:10.1111/cdoe.12605

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A recent study on migrants in the Netherlands demonstrates how vulnerability compelled inequitable dental care from dentists in a volunteer network. 31 The metanarratives in which these labels are embedded assume that the vulnerable are helpless victims, without power or agency.…”

Section: Discursive Use Of Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When health care professionals or researchers hold the power, they can decide who is most deserving of research attention and clinical services. A recent study on migrants in the Netherlands demonstrates how vulnerability compelled inequitable dental care from dentists in a volunteer network 31 …”

Section: Never Just Semantics: Exploring the Language And Discourse O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Critically engaging vulnerability: Rethinking oral health with vulnerabilized populations

Macdonald

Muirhead

Doughty

et al. 2021

Comm Dent Oral Epid

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper is the third in a series of narrative reviews challenging core concepts in oral health research and practice. Our series started with a framework for Inclusion Oral Health. Our second review explored one component of this framework, looking at how intersectionality adds important complexity to oral public health. This current manuscript drills into a second component of Inclusion Oral Health, exploring how labels can lead to ‘othering’ thereby misrepresenting populations and (re)producing harms. Specifically, we address a common oral public health label: vulnerable populations. This term is commonly used descriptively: an adjective (vulnerable) is used to modify a noun (population). What this descriptor conceals is the ‘how,’ ‘why,’ and ‘therefore’ that leads to and from vulnerability: How and why is a population made vulnerable; to what are they vulnerable; what makes them ‘at risk,’ and to what are they ‘at risk’? In concealing these questions, we argue our conventional approach unwittingly does harm. Vulnerability is a term that implies a population has inherent characteristics that make them vulnerable; further, it casts populations as discrete, homogenous entities, thereby misrepresenting the complexities that people live. In so doing, this label can eclipse the strengths, agency and power of individuals and populations to care for themselves and each other. Regarding oral public health, the convention of vulnerability averts our research gaze away from social processes that produce vulnerability to instead focus on the downstream product, the vulnerable population. This paper theorizes vulnerability for oral public health, critically engaging its production and reproduction. Drawing from critical public health literature and disability studies, we advance a critique of vulnerability to make explicit hidden assumptions and their harmful outcomes. We propose solutions for research and practice, including co‐engagement and co‐production with peoples who have been vulnerabilized. In so doing, this paper moves forward the potential for oral public health to advance research and practice that engages complexity in our work with vulnerabilized populations.

show abstract

Section: Discursive Use Of Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Never Just Semantics: Exploring the Language And Discourse O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Critically engaging vulnerability: Rethinking oral health with vulnerabilized populations

Macdonald

Muirhead

Doughty

et al. 2021

Comm Dent Oral Epid

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Dental Health, Caries Perception and Sense of Discrimination among Migrants and Refugees in Europe: Results from the Mig-HealthCare Project

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dental and oral health are considered among the main health issues for migrants and refugees, as access to dental health care services is often expensive and difficult. The study investigates dental and oral health determinants among migrants and refugees in 10 European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain, and Sweden), examining how mental health, legal status, discrimination issues and dental services’ use frequency affect dental health. Methods: A cross sectional study using a purpose-made questionnaire was carried out to assess health status and access, with a dedicated section to measure self-perceived dental health, prevalence of caries, last visit to dentist and anticipated access to dental health services. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to investigate the impact of quality of life, discrimination, immigration status, and other demographic factors on dental health. Results: About half of the sample suffered from poor dental condition and 22% had never visited a dentist. Migrants with higher educational levels had higher odds of having good dental health (OR = 1.08; 95%CI (1.03, 1.12)) and brushing their teeth daily (OR = 1.1; 95%CI (1.04, 1.17)). Higher general and mental health scores were indicative of better dental condition (general health: OR = 1.02; 95%CI (1.01, 1.03); mental health: OR = 1.01; 95%CI (1.004, 1.02)) and higher probability of daily teeth brushing (general health: OR = 1.02; 95%CI (1.01, 1.03); mental health: OR = 1.02; 95%CI (1.01, 1.03)). The possession of any kind of legal immigration permission and not having any children showed similar results. Age and discrimination were correlated with decreased likelihood for good dental conditions. Gender was correlated with daily teeth brushing, as female migrants had higher odds of brushing their teeth daily. Conclusions: Many migrants report poor dental health. Nonetheless, migrants with higher education levels, legal immigration status, better general and mental health, no children, lower sense of discrimination, younger age, and regular dental visits were positively correlated to good dental health (perceived as no dental caries).

show abstract

Access to oral health care for undocumented migrants: Perspectives of actors involved in a voluntary dental network in the Netherlands

Cited by 2 publications

References 17 publications

Critically engaging vulnerability: Rethinking oral health with vulnerabilized populations

Critically engaging vulnerability: Rethinking oral health with vulnerabilized populations

Dental Health, Caries Perception and Sense of Discrimination among Migrants and Refugees in Europe: Results from the Mig-HealthCare Project

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About