Inequalities in the dental health needs and access to dental services among looked after children in Scotland: a population data linkage study

Abstract

LAC are more likely to have dental treatment needs and less likely to access dental services even when accounting for sociodemographic factors. Greater efforts are required to integrate child social and healthcare for LAC and to develop preventive care pathways on entering and throughout their time in the care system.

Dental healthcare utilisation among young adults who were in societal out‐of‐home care as children: A Swedish National Cohort Study

“…Only 60% of OHC children responded to invitations to scheduled dental check‐ups compared with 90% of a comparison group of peers who were not in OHC, but who were living in the residential neighbourhoods that the OHC children had originally come from. Similar results have been found in a recent population‐level study in Scotland (McMahon et al, ). OHC children had high levels of severe dental decay and were less likely to visit a dentist regularly, which could not be explained by socioeconomic factors.…”

“…Repeated moves makes it hard for the dental services to locate the child for regular dental check‐ups, and without a continuing care provider the child's compliance with the comprehensive general dental healthcare system might be disrupted. That children in OHC fail to attend dental check‐ups (Kling & Nilsson, ; McMahon et al, ; Randsalu & Laurell, ) points to an urgent issue, namely, how to organise communication and cooperation between the social services and healthcare providers (cross‐sector collaboration) in order to ensure that children in OHC receive the same medical and dental healthcare as other children.…”

The mouth and maltreatment: safeguarding issues in child dental health

“…Development of local interagency networks facilitates referral and ensures that children receive care from appropriately skilled staff, whether GDPs or specialists, at a convenient location. Looked-after children, for example, have higher treatment needs and poorer access to dental health services than the general population78 and may benefit from designated care pathways 79…”

Cohort profile: The ‘Children’s Health in Care in Scotland’ (CHiCS) study—a longitudinal dataset to compare health outcomes for care experienced children and general population children

“…The term 'care experienced children' is now widely used to describe any person who (CEC) compares with other children in Scotland and in the UK. Invariably, the evidence that is available suggests that care experience is related to poorer health, [1][2][3][4] but often this is based on small sample sizes or without comparison with children who have not been in care. 2 3 The only population-wide evidence on the effects of care experience on health in Scotland (and the UK) comes from a linked administrative data study on dental health.…”