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Why are vulnerable children not brought to their dental appointments?

D Simons1, N Pearson1, A Dittu1

  • 1Barts Health Community Dental Services, Barts Dental Services and OMFS, London.

British Dental Journal
|July 25, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Many parents miss dental appointments for children needing special care. Understanding parental barriers is key to reducing missed appointments (MA) and improving pediatric oral healthcare access.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Dentistry
  • Public Health
  • Healthcare Management

Background:

  • A significant number of children under 16 with oral healthcare needs miss appointments at the Barts Health Special Care Community Dental Service (BHSCCDS).
  • Understanding the reasons for these missed appointments (MA) is crucial for developing effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To audit the number, frequency, and reasons for missed appointments (MA) among children requiring special care dental services.
  • To identify parental barriers contributing to non-attendance and inform strategies for reducing MA.

Main Methods:

  • An audit was conducted to assess missed appointments (MA) in a special care community dental service.
  • Feedback was gathered from dental staff and parents/carers through personal, respectful, and supportive conversations.

Main Results:

  • Direct engagement with families provided valuable insights into individual and collective parental challenges.
  • The information gathered improved the understanding of factors leading to missed appointments (MA).

Conclusions:

  • Personalized and supportive communication with parents/carers is effective in understanding barriers to attendance.
  • Recommendations derived from this audit can help reduce missed appointments (MA) for children needing special care dental services.

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