Referral patterns of special needs patients at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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

OBJECTIVES

To 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.

METHODS

A 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.

RESULTS

Most 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.

CONCLUSIONS

According 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.

Special needs dentistry in multidisciplinary head and neck cancer management - characterizing scope and complexity of patient care

AIMS

To describe the involvement and need for specialists in special needs dentistry (SND) in the multidisciplinary management of patients and to characterize the complexity of patients with special health care needs.

METHODS

Referrals for SND review from the Fiona Stanley Hospital head and neck cancer (HNC) multidisciplinary team between January 1 and December 31, 2019 were screened. Data recorded included demographic information, medical history, dental status, and dental treatment provided prior to HNC management.

RESULTS

In total 127 patients were referred to the SND clinic in 2019 of which 89.0% were males and 74.8% were aged 50-79. The mean waiting time for SND review was 19.6 days. On average patients had a decayed, missing, filled tooth (DMFT) score of 20.3. During the study period 407 extractions and 30 restorations were completed. Seventeen patients (13.4%) had all their teeth removed prior to HNC management. The majority of patients (79.6%) were categorized as either moderate or severe complexity. Increasing complexity was seen in older age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Significant oral disease is seen in patients with HNC often requiring extensive dental treatment. Complexity is seen in patients requiring multidisciplinary care however characteristics that constitute complexity are varied given the spectrum encompassing 'special needs'.

Perceived barriers encountered by oral health professionals in the Australian public dental system providing dental treatment to individuals with special needs

AIMS

To investigate barriers experienced by clinicians treating individuals with special needs in the Australian public dental system.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Oral health professionals working at primary care clinics in the public dental system were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews or focus groups to discuss the challenges they faced in managing patients with special needs. Qualitative methods, employing inductive thematic analysis, revealed two primary barriers: 1. clinicians lacked confidence in their ability to treat patients with special needs because of insufficient training and experience, and difficulties obtaining information about their patients, and 2. barriers within the public dental system, including inadequate funding, equipment and facilities, and productivity pressures prevented clinicians from being able to provide the care patients required. The priority and understanding of the oral health for these individuals within the public dental system and wider disability sector was also raised.

CONCLUSION

A perceived lack of training and experience in managing individuals with special needs was a barrier to treating patients with special needs. Other significant barriers were under-resourcing of the public dental system and a lack of priority and understanding regarding oral health among carers of individuals with special needs and other health professionals.

Utilisation of dental services for people with special health care needs in Australia

Background

To explore the profile of patients and treatment delivered at specialist referral centres for individuals with special needs.

Methods

A cross-sectional audit was conducted of the health records of all patients with appointments at two of Australia’s largest referral centres for patients with special needs, the Integrated Special Needs Department at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and the Special Needs Unit at the Adelaide Dental Hospital, for the month of August 2015.

Results

The profile of patients treated at these specialist units demonstrates the diversity of individuals with additional health care needs that general dentists feel require specialised oral health care. The Adelaide-based clinic had a greater proportion of complex medical patients in comparison to those treated in Melbourne who were more likely to have a disability or psychiatric condition and were less likely to be able to self-consent for treatment. Interestingly, despite similar workforce personnel numbers, there were approximately twice as many appointments at the Special Needs Unit in Adelaide than the Integrated Special Needs Department in Melbourne during the study period which may have reflected differences in workforce composition with a greater use of dental auxiliaries at the Adelaide clinic.

Conclusions

The results of this study provide an initial profile of patients with special needs referred for specialist care in Australia. However, the differences in patient profiles between the two units require further investigation into the possible influence of service provision models and barriers to access of care for individuals with special needs and to ensure equitable access to health care.

Análise do perfil dos pacientes com deficiência internados no Instituto de Saúde da Criança do Amazonas

Resumo Introdução Pessoas com Deficiência (PcD) são aquelas que possuem alteração física, intelectual, social ou emocional. Podem ter impedimentos que duram um curto período de tempo ou por toda sua vida. Objetivo Descrever o perfil clínico dos pacientes com deficiência internados no Instituto de Saúde da Criança do Amazonas (ICAM). Material e método Foram analisados 34 pacientes e coletados dados, como gênero, faixa etária, procedência, patologia de base e condição de saúde bucal. Os dados obtidos foram organizados e tabulados no Microsoft Excel 2013. Resultado Na distribuição por gênero, verificou-se 70% do gênero masculino (mais prevalente) e 30% do feminino. Quanto à faixa etária, a idade predominante foi 8 anos. A maioria dos pacientes (60%) era do interior do Amazonas e 40% eram da capital. No que diz respeito à patologia, a Doença Neurológica teve prevalência em 44% dos casos, seguida das seguintes patologias: Síndrome de Down 18%, Transtorno de Espectro Autista 12%, Mielomeningocele 12%, Surdez 3%, Diabetes 3%, Síndrome de Prader Willi 3%, Síndrome Moebius 3% e Síndrome de Lennox 3%. Na condição bucal, 44% da amostra teve condição precária, 32% deficiente e 24% satisfatória. Conclusão A maioria das crianças era do gênero masculino, faixa etária de 8 anos, procedentes do interior do Amazonas, com deficiência neurológica e condição bucal precária, sugerindo que a presença do cirurgião-dentista, compondo a equipe multidisciplinar hospitalar, auxilia a traçar um plano de tratamento preventivo e curativo adequado a esses indivíduos.