Question · asked by 1 review
Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities) vs No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled): Oral disease outcomes, including dental caries estimates
- Population
- People of all ages and abilities served through primary care and related settings (children, pregnant women, older adults in aged-care/residential and nursing homes, people with disabilities, and general primary care patients)
- Intervention
- Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities)
- Comparison
- No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled)
- Outcome
- Oral disease outcomes, including dental caries estimates
Most studies reported improved oral disease outcomes with integration strategies (8 of 9 studies improved, 1 no change; 9 studies, narrative synthesis; ungraded).
What each review found
Include earlier review versions| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities) vs No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled) Oral disease outcomes, including dental caries estimates · People of all ages and abilities served through primary care and related settings (children, pregnant women, older… · Primary care, community, school, and aged-care/residential/nursing-home settings Most studies reported improved oral disease outcomes with integration strategies (8 of 9 studies improved, 1 no change; 9 studies, narrative synthesis; ungraded). Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care: a systematic review. (2023) All outcomes | Nine studies reported oral disease outcomes, seven of which measured change in dental caries estimates. Eight of the nine studies reported improved oral disease outcomes; one (Vichayanrat 2012) reported no change in… | 9 studies | GRADE not reported |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care: a systematic review. 2023 All outcomes | No date limits, until the third week of June 2022 | 75 | Moderate / Moderate |
Studies behind the findings
The primary studies the full-text reviews tie to this outcome. Reviews with headline outcomes only do not list them here.
- Impact of an extended postnatal home visiting programme on oral health among children in a disadvantaged area of Stockholm, Sweden · 2020 · included by 1 of these review
- Reducing carious lesions during the first 4 years of life · 2019 · included by 1 of these review
- Residential age care and domiciliary oral health services: <i>Reach‐<scp>OHT</scp></i>—The development of a metropolitan oral health… · 2017 · included by 1 of these review
- 'Fit for school' - a school-based water, sanitation and hygiene programme to improve child health: Results from a longitudinal study in… · 2017 · included by 1 of these review
- Integrating a Nurse-Midwife-Led Oral Health Intervention Into CenteringPregnancy Prenatal Care: Results of a Pilot Study. · 2017 · included by 1 of these review
- Oral Hygiene in Patients With Severe Mental Illness: A Pilot Study on the Collaboration Between Oral Hygienists and Mental Health Nurses · 2015 · included by 1 of these review
- Improving access and provision of preventive oral health care for very young, poor, and low-income children through a new… · 2015 · included by 1 of these review
- Effects of Physician-Based Preventive Oral Health Services on Dental Caries. · 2015 · included by 1 of these review
- The evaluation of a multi-level oral health intervention to improve oral health practices among caregivers of preschool children. · 2012 · included by 1 of these review
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.