Decentralized public-funded oral rehabilitation programs and oral health-related quality of life of the elderly in Rural Kerala

Oral health community engagement programs for rural communities: A scoping review

“…Although the overall findings of this scoping review revealed oral healthcare improvements in various rural communities, the findings also suggested that developing countries face a substantial burden of oral diseases [ 16 – 18 , 22 – 24 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 35 , 36 ]. Furthermore, the inclusion of studies evaluating oral health strategies in rural communities of developed countries provided evidence of persistent discrepancies in oral healthcare accessibility and a shortage of oral healthcare professionals, confirming that this burden is of global significance [ 15 , 25 , 27 , 30 – 34 ].…”

“…These findings suggest a significant inadequacy and deficiency in the provision of oral health education in developing countries. Similarly, the majority of oral health community engagement programs were implemented in Asia [ 16 , 17 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 35 ], where the continent stands out as the only one that has successfully implemented a diverse range of oral health strategies to guide oral health care for various populations, such as children, mothers/caregivers, pregnant women, edentulous individuals, teachers, and geriatric patients. However, the implementation of these strategies may be driven by the objective of mitigating the complex issue of approximately 900 million cases of untreated dental caries, severe periodontal disease, and edentulism prevalent throughout the continent [ 48 ].…”

“…To achieve this, we employed a systematic approach to identify records bearing oral health community engagement programs, which were then categorized into four main intervention groups: community-based, school-based, integrated dental-based, and non-dental volunteer-based strategies. The eligible records that we obtained originated from both developed [15,25,27,[30][31][32][33][34] and developing countries [16][17][18][22][23][24]26,28,29,35,36]. Overall, the results of this scoping review confirmed that oral health community engagement programs were effective in enhancing the knowledge and perception of oral health among children and PLOS ONE mothers/caregivers; improving oral health and quality of life of edentulous older adults and children; expanding access to and incorporating oral healthcare services provided by dental personnel; and improving oral health outcomes through the involvement of community health workers and teachers among rural residents.…”

“…The current comprehensive scoping review yielded substantial evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of community-based oral health programs in guiding and enhancing the knowledge and perception of oral health among children and mothers/caregivers and improving oral health and quality of life of children and edentulous older adults (Table 3) [15,[23][24][25][26][27]. Although the objective of these programs was to enhance access to oral healthcare services for all rural communities in developed and developing countries, the general members (patients) of these communities were given lower priority and only received limited benefits from these programs.…”

“…implemented in diverse rural communities. The initial category elucidates the communitybased dental interventions [15,[22][23][24][25][26][27]. The subsequent category delineates the school-based dental interventions implemented in the primary school setting [17,18,[28][29][30].…”