Why are vulnerable children not brought to their dental appointments?

Abstract

A considerable number of children with an oral healthcare need under 16 years of age are not brought to their Barts Health Special Care Community Dental Service (BHSCCDS) appointments. The BHSCCDS needed to understand more about why parents/ carers (parents) were failing to bring their children, in order to identify appropriate strategies to reduce the non-attendance.Thus, an audit was conducted to assess the number, frequency and reasons for all missed appointments (MA); this included feedback conversations with dental staff and parents. Information obtained from this cohort of high-risk children's families through personal, respectful and supportive contact improved understanding of the parents' individual and collective issues and led to recommendations that could reduce the number of MA in the future.

Consent down under

“…2 Special needs and vulnerable children would also greatly benefit from this simple yet cost-effective approach. 3 G. Pettit, Adelaide DOI: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2015.763…”

Unheard voices behind bars

“…In 2012, the British Dental Association issued the individual booklets Oral healthcare in prisons and secure settings for England, Scotland and Wales where many of the ongoing issues in prison dentistry were highlighted. 3 …”

“…Their findings, set out in a consultation document, 2 identify a long-standing increasing incidence of infective endocarditis across the world, not just in the UK. A close reading of the NICE consultation document shows their analysis of the recent paper by Dayer et al, 3 which triggered the review. They found that it overestimated the increase in infective endocarditis incidence since 2008, failed to show any causal link to dental treatment and was at high risk of bias.…”

“…2 Special needs and vulnerable children would also greatly benefit from this simple yet cost-effective approach. 3 G. Pettit, Adelaide…”