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Defining Disability in Oral Health Policy and Practice in the UK
K Rijhwani1, J E Gallagher1, S Scambler1
1Faculty of Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
|August 6, 2026
Summary
UK oral health policies inconsistently define disability, often using a medical model that overlooks barriers to care. This contributes to poor oral health outcomes for disabled people, necessitating inclusive, barrier-focused frameworks.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Policy
- Disability Studies
Background:
- Disabled individuals in the UK encounter significant barriers to accessing essential dental care, resulting in compromised oral health.
- Understanding how disability is framed within policy is crucial for improving dental care provision for this population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the conceptualization and definition of disability in UK oral health policy documents.
- To explore the implications of these policy framings on dental care delivery for disabled people.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative documentary analysis of 26 UK oral health policy documents (2000-2023).
- Analysis employed a social model of disability framework, focusing on terminology, disability models, and healthcare vision.
- Data extraction used a structured matrix; coding was organized into three key themes.
Main Results:
- Disability definitions were infrequent in general oral health policies but common in Special Care Dentistry (SCD) guidance.
- General policies predominantly used a medical model of disability, while SCD and international documents incorporated social or biopsychosocial models.
- Barriers to care, infrastructure, and workforce competencies were inconsistently addressed, particularly in general dentistry documents.
Conclusions:
- UK oral health policies exhibit limited and inconsistent conceptualizations of disability, with a prevalence of medical models in general dentistry.
- The lack of clear definitions and barrier-focused frameworks likely exacerbates oral healthcare inequalities for disabled individuals.
- Enhanced policy explicitness, inclusive frameworks, and attention to service design are vital for equitable oral healthcare access.
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