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Dental referrals for patients with diabetes: survey of barriers and enablers for medical and health professionals

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posted on 2024-02-01, 06:46 authored by K Davies, K McGowan, T Dover, T McGowan, Santosh TadakamadlaSantosh Tadakamadla
Background: Oral health care improves diabetes management; however, medical and other health practitioners do not commonly refer their patients with diabetes for oral health care. This study aimed to understand barriers to and enablers of dental referrals for patients with diabetes. Methods: Quantitative data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of health care providers attending a virtual Grand Rounds on the relationship between oral health and diabetes. Attendees were invited to complete and share a Forms survey. Barriers to and enablers of dental referrals were compared for 18 health professionals working in inpatient/ward settings to 23 working in community/primary care settings using the chi-square test. Results: Across both work settings, only 12% of respondents often or always discussed the importance of oral health and only 8% often or always referred their patients with diabetes for dental care. Time barriers, awareness and knowledge of how/where to send dental referrals were significant barriers, while online referral pathways, more education and availability of brochures for the patient to take home were identified as key enablers for dental referrals. Conclusions: Online referral pathways, targeted oral health education and resources for medical and health professionals caring for patients with diabetes may increase the number of patients being referred for dental care as part of their diabetes managements. © 2023 Australian Dental Association.

History

Publication Date

2023-12-01

Journal

Australian Dental Journal

Volume

68

Issue

4

Pagination

9p. (p. 273-281)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

0045-0421

Rights Statement

© 2023 The Authors. Australian Dental Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Dental Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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