What do we know about portable dental services? A scoping review

Fathi, Homa; Rousseau, Jacqueline; Makansi, Nora; Blaizot, Alessandra; Morris, Martin; Vergnes, Jean-Noël; Bedos, Christophe

doi:10.1111/ger.12524

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…16 A recent review pointed out that the restricted scope of care and lack of urgent follow-ups were the major drawbacks of portable dentistry. 17 The findings of this study confirmed with that of our previous quantitative study which reported that the ODCP solved some of the dental problems of older adults and kept most of them from deterioration in oral health-related quality of life. 5 Nonetheless, simplified administrative processes, more frequent and flexible follow-up treatments, enhanced support from the Department of Health and an attractive package for the recruitment of dentists were deemed necessary.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Outreach dental care programme for older adults using long‐term care services in Hong Kong: A qualitative study

Yang,

Lo,

Leung

2023

Gerodontology

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ObjectivesTo explore the effects and improvement needs of an outreach dental care programme (ODCP) for older adults using residential care or daycare services from the perspectives of the caregivers, the dentists and administrative staff involved in the implementation of the ODCP.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted through semi‐structured interviews with three stakeholders, long‐term care (LTC) facility caregivers, administrative staff and dentists working for the ODCP. Combined maximum variation and snowball sampling strategies were adopted, and 22, 9 and 7 participants were interviewed from each stakeholder, respectively. The interviews were conducted via telephone, which were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. NVivo software was used for storing and analysing the data. Data analysis was conducted continuously during the study.ResultsMost participants opined that the ODCP benefited older adults by raising their oral health conditions and awareness. However, they complained of the complicated administrative procedures, unmet dental treatment needs, inefficient coordination, unclear work guidelines and shortage of dental manpower. More advanced dental treatment options, better coordination among different parties, simpler administrative processes and better incentives for dentists were proposed to further improve the programme.ConclusionsAccording to the stakeholders, ODCP seems beneficial to older adults using LTC services. Further improvements in the scope of dental treatments, cooperation between the outreach dental teams and caregivers, and streamlining of the administrative process are needed for the provision of effective outreach dental care to satisfy the unmet treatment needs of older adults who use LTC services. Better incentives are needed to attract and retain dentists.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Outreach dental care programme for older adults using long‐term care services in Hong Kong: A qualitative study

Yang,

Lo,

Leung

2023

Gerodontology

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“…The literature cites dental professionals' negative attitudes towards mobile services as an obstacle that impedes their adoption of domiciliary dentistry [ 5 , 6 ]. Such negative attitudes may be due to logistic and financial concerns but also a lack of training and the apprehension of serving people with complex medical conditions [ 7 ]. Moreover, we lack models of practice for domiciliary dentistry that could encourage dentists to adopt this approach and guide them in its implementation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domiciliary dentistry clinics: a multiple case study in the province of Quebec, Canada

Makansi

Rousseau

Bedos

2021

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background The demand for more flexible and person-centered models of oral healthcare delivery is increasing and while mobile and domiciliary dental services have the potential to increase access to oral healthcare among dependent elderly and people with disabilities; the uptake of this service model by dentists remains low. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand how existing domiciliary dental services operate within a particular context. Methods We used a qualitative descriptive multiple case study design. We studied three independent domiciliary dentistry clinics in the province of Quebec, Canada. We completed observations of 27 domiciliary visits, four of which were in private homes and the remaining 23 in LTCFs. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with dental professionals, patients, and caregivers. We performed a qualitative content analysis using a deductive/inductive coding framework. Results We presented a detailed description of the physical and service features of the studied cases. Physical features included the set-up of the mobile clinics, the portable equipment used, and the domiciliary locations of visits. For service features, we described the roles, attitudes, and interactions among those involved on both the providers’ and recipients’ sides, as well as, the logistical and financial aspect of the domiciliary dental services. Conclusions Despite variations in setup and years of practice, the three mobile clinics had similar physical and service features. They also faced common logistic challenges but were able to provide services and respond to the high demand for domiciliary dental services. Additional research in different contexts would further contribute to building evidence-based models to help increase the uptake of this type of practice by current and future dental professionals.

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“…16 To conduct the discussions, we used an interview guide based on a conceptual model we had proposed in a recent scoping review on portable dentistry. 11 We asked open-ended questions, inviting the participants to share their perspectives on portable dentistry.…”

Section: Sampling Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the benefits of this approach, dentists who provide mobile services are rare and cannot respond to the current and anticipated demands 11 . The few available studies have ascribed dentists' reluctance to financial and organisational challenges as well as a lack of training 9,12–14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 Despite the benefits of this approach, dentists who provide mobile services are rare and cannot respond to the current and anticipated demands. 11 The few available studies have ascribed dentists' reluctance to financial and organisational challenges as well as a lack of training. 9,[12][13][14] In a survey done by Hopcraft et al 14 among 221 dentists, participants ranked the scarcity of portable equipment (84%), lack of suitable treatment areas in nursing homes (70.6%), disinterest in the service (62.9%), reimbursement issues (58.4%) and inadequate undergraduate education (37.1%) as the most frequent barriers to providing portable services in long-term care homes.…”

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confidence: 99%

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How do dentists perceive portable dentistry? A qualitative study conducted in Quebec

2022

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Introduction People with impaired mobility face difficulty accessing dental care. One solution is portable dentistry, which includes delivering dental care in homes or residential institutions. Dentists, however, appear reluctant to offer such services. Our objective was to understand how dentists perceived portable dentistry and potential challenges to its implementation. Methods We conducted a qualitative descriptive study based on semi‐structured interviews with a sample of dentists in Quebec, Canada. We employed a combination of maximum variation and snowball sampling strategies to recruit 14 participants. The interviews were conducted and audio‐recorded through Zoom and lasted approximately 40 minutes. After transcribing them, we performed a thematic analysis with a combination of inductive and deductive coding. Results Despite perceiving portable dentistry as a valuable practice model, participants showed little interest in adopting this approach, arguing it was not every dentist's “job” to provide portable services. They believed portable dentistry must be financially burdensome and difficult to integrate into their daily work due to lack of time and portable equipment. Accordingly, participants considered it was the duty of governments, professional organisations overseeing dentistry education and practice, and dental schools to develop portable dentistry programs and hire dentists to deliver such services. Conclusions To promote portable dentistry, it may be necessary to improve the knowledge and competencies of dentists, but also to challenge their professional identity as well as the current model of dental clinics as the standard of care delivery. To achieve this, we need strong leadership from dental schools, professional organisations and government.

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What do we know about portable dental services? A scoping review

Cited by 9 publications

References 23 publications

Outreach dental care programme for older adults using long‐term care services in Hong Kong: A qualitative study

Outreach dental care programme for older adults using long‐term care services in Hong Kong: A qualitative study

Domiciliary dentistry clinics: a multiple case study in the province of Quebec, Canada

How do dentists perceive portable dentistry? A qualitative study conducted in Quebec

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