Barriers and Facilitators of Dental Care in African-American Seniors: A Qualitative Study of Consumers\u27 Perspective

Objective: To identify African-American seniors’ perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to their dental care. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional qualitative study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 16 community-based, self-identified African-American seniors from March 2017 to August 2017 in Oregon. We coded data in ATLAS.ti and used thematic analysis to identify emergent themes within the social ecological framework and a cross-case comparative analysis to explore variation by participant characteristics. Results: Regardless of dental insurance status, cost and perceived urgency of treatment were the primary drivers of participant’s ability and interest in seeking dental care. Participants identified four solutions to improve oral health care in African-American seniors: affordable/free care and vouchers for dental work, better oral health education at a younger age, onsite community dental services, and navigators who can educate patients about insurance and dental providers who see low-income patients. Conclusions: Oral health decisions by African-American seniors were primarily driven by cost and perceived urgency irrespective of insurance coverage. Affordable dental care, early intervention, on-site services, and navigation may help to address key barriers and reduce oral health disparities faced by African-Americans

Dental Student to Patient Communication Analysis: A Pilot Study

It is very crucial that dental students who comprise our future dental workforce are adequately trained in communication skills. This training is especially important because of the increasing population of English as Second Language (ESL) patients in our community health centers, dental offices, and dental schools. The objective of this exploratory pilot study was to analyze dental student conversations about patient treatment plans to native English and ESL patients. The study recruited four dental students who spoke English as their first language and four patients, two with English as their native language and two with English as their second language from Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry. A Panasonic Palmcorder video camera was used to record the dental student to patient procedural conversations, which were then transcribed. Data analysis included rhetorical analysis to explore the argument structures and conversation analysis to explore the linguistic moves used in treatment plan conversations. The results showed three common errors that dental students made while dealing with ESL patients that did not exist with the native speaking patients: The consistent assumption of patient comprehension, the use of over technical jargon, and a lack of use of multi-mediated forms of communication to bridge communicative barriers. There are obvious skills to be learned by the dental students for communicating treatment plans and dealing with ESL patients. Further research and effective teaching resources are needed to better serve our patient population