Journal of Disability and Oral Health
- Cover Date:
- March 2011
- Print ISSN:
- 1470-8558
- Vol:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
Access to dental services for people with learning disabilities: Quality care?
Aims and objectives: To represent the unheard voices of people with learning disabilities and their carers concerning access to dental services. The objective was to explore the oral health experiences of people with learning disabilities and their carers using the social model of disability as a lens through which to view data. Design: Qualitative methods employed a blend of ethnography and narrative. A purposive sample of ten people with learning disabilities, and their carers, was employed. Interviewing was used as the main tool of data collection, but pluralistic methods were used to obtain and build stories. Results: The main narratives for all participants centred on issues related to quality care and a wider definition of access than described in the existing dental literature. This highlighted issues related to other dimensions of quality care. Conclusion: This study suggests that policy and guidance, whilst prescriptive and available, has so far been ineffective in improving access and consequently the quality of oral health care for people with learning disabilities. A modified model of access is suggested for Primary Care Organisations alongside guidance by the British Society for Disability and Oral Health, to inform the commissioning of services that enable optimum access to quality care.
Key words: Learning disabilities, access, quality care, oral health, policy
- Article Price
- £15.00
- Institution Article Price
- £
- Page Start
- 17
- Page End
- 27
- Authors
- J Owens, TA Dyer
Articles from this issue
- Title
- Pg. Start
- Pg. End
- An overview of the provision of oral health care for patients with oncological disease attending salaried primary dental care services in England
- 10
- 16
- Occurrence of hypodontia, supernumerary teeth and dental anomalies in Brazilian individuals with Down syndrome
- 31
- 34
- The dental management of an albino adolescent with an undetected bleeding disorder: a case report
- 35
- 38