Perspectives of the public dental workforce on the dental management of people with special needs

Abstract

Background People with special health care needs continue to have difficulties accessing regular dental care partly due to oral health professionals feeling they lack the knowledge and experience to provide treatment to these individuals. Methods Qualitative interviews and focus groups provided an insight into the types and nature of supports that oral health professionals working in the Australian public dental system desired and felt may improve their willingness and/or ability to treat patients with special needs. Results Although participants did not identify one group of patients with special needs that were more difficult to treat, they did report a feeling of being unsupported. Clinicians felt that improved training and access to ongoing education in Special Needs Dentistry, opportunities for greater support from specialists or other health professionals, either through networking or other media such as telehealth, and fostering a more supportive clinical environment, particularly in relation to appointment lengths and productivity pressures, may improve their willingness and ability to treat patients with special needs. Conclusions Additional support, in the form of greater interaction with specialists and reduced time and productivity pressures, may improve the willingness of oral health professionals in the public dental system to treat patients with special needs.

Challenges experienced in the dental care of persons with special needs: a qualitative study among health professionals and caregivers

“…The physicians who were interviewed expressed the idea that a top-down approach could facilitate increased access to health care by people with special needs and highlighted the need for a multidisciplinary team approach. This suggestion was similar to other research that called for interprofessional collaboration in the healthcare of PWDs [ 8 , 24 ]. Research has also advocated for improved use of publicly-funded dental services that have been integrated with other services that benefit this population [ 16 , 25 ].…”

“…Recent research on the barriers that caregivers of people with special needs encounter, include, but are not limited to, inaccessibility to buildings or facilities, discrimination by healthcare staff and lack of information, also strengthen the need for this type of research [ 6 , 7 ]. Furthermore, access to oral healthcare may be affected by both the service provided and the personnel [ 8 ]. This inevitably leads to reduced dental care in PWDs.…”

Mentoring of oral health professionals is crucial to improving access to care for people with special needs

“…A barrier for many oral health professionals is their perceived lack of knowledge or training in managing those with special needs [ 2 , 4 – 6 ]. The ability to find suitably-trained and experienced dentists has been identified as a key barrier to accessing regular and ongoing oral health care by individuals with disabilities and their carers [ 2 ] and dental specialists in this field [ 7 ].…”

“…The ability to find suitably-trained and experienced dentists has been identified as a key barrier to accessing regular and ongoing oral health care by individuals with disabilities and their carers [ 2 ] and dental specialists in this field [ 7 ]. Oral health professionals have discussed their limited exposure to treating individuals with special needs as part of their training and difficulty with accessing ongoing professional development in this area as concerns [ 5 , 6 ]. However, many have also suggested that receiving additional support may improve both their willingness to treat these individuals and reduce their reliance on referral to specialists where these patients often encounter long waiting lists [ 5 , 6 ].…”

“…Oral health professionals have discussed their limited exposure to treating individuals with special needs as part of their training and difficulty with accessing ongoing professional development in this area as concerns [ 5 , 6 ]. However, many have also suggested that receiving additional support may improve both their willingness to treat these individuals and reduce their reliance on referral to specialists where these patients often encounter long waiting lists [ 5 , 6 ].…”