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In progress
Primary care
Bridging oral healthcare access for underserved communities
Background
We are currently facing a crisis in NHS dental access, with three million fewer patients seen by dentists since the pandemic, and only 30 to 40% of practices now accepting new patients. This crisis has highlighted and worsened already deep inequalities in the provision of dental health services. People who have multiple chronic conditions, vulnerable groups (unemployed people, people with disabilities, those on a low-income, and ethnic minority communities) are all known to face the greatest barriers in accessing dental services, yet at the same time they have the poorest oral health. This leads to associated health impacts, with poor oral health often making chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia worse, and adding to the pressures already facing the NHS.
The NHS Long Term Plan’s digital agenda offers a unique chance to modernise dental care, with tools such as remote triage, AI diagnostics, and virtual consultations which could expand capacity and improve access if designed inclusively. This adds to the Government’s manifesto commitment to deliver 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments every year.
This project will investigate ways of improving dental access for adults with several health conditions (comorbidities) especially those from lower-income or ethnic minority backgrounds. It will do this by exploring the barriers to, and opportunities for, getting dental care, for digital and technology-led dental access interventions in the NHS dental pathway.
Approach
The project will be delivered in three Work Packages each designed to build on the findings of the previous stage. We will use a mixed-methods approach which includes evidence synthesis (reviewing existing research), involving patients and stakeholders, and collecting both quantitative (numerical) data and qualitative (descriptive) data, to make sure that our results are evidence-based and focused on patients’ needs.
- Work Package 1: we will carry out an overview of reviews of digital dental technology to improve access to care.
- Work Package 2: we will establish a collaborative community of patients, carers, and clinicians to discuss review findings and work together to identify the barriers and opportunities for technology-led dental access interventions in the NHS dental pathway.
- Work Package 3: we will carry out a wider survey of patients and clinicians to evaluate proposed opportunities for improving access across primary and secondary dental care services
Project team
Funding and ethics
This study is funded in part by an NIHR personal award. It is independently led by THIS Institute.