Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
4-26-2022
Journal
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Abstract
Patients with movement disorders, like Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, tend to have poor oral health. Although contributing factors have been proposed, the willingness and ability of dentists to treat this patient population are still unknown. Our objective is to understand the current barriers and motivations of dentists to treat this patient population as a path to improved care and quality of life. A total of 176 dentists in Texas were surveyed through a structured questionnaire which contained both closed and open-ended questions. Nearly 30% of participants reported having no barriers to treating these patients and 26.7% reported that no such patients have visited their practice. Barriers reported included lack of education on the topic (17.6%) and longer appointments than average (14.8%). A main motivation to treat these patients was more training and education on the subject (38.6%). Poor oral health in patients with movement disorders may not be due to barriers encountered by dentists, but rather encountered by patients, such as access to and use of dental treatment. General dentists are willing to provide care for adult patients with movement disorders and continuing education for these providers is preferred over referral to a specialist.
Keywords
Adult, Attitude of Health Personnel, Dental Care, Dentists, Humans, Motivation, Movement Disorders, Quality of Life, health services accessibility, movement disorders, dental care for aged, dentistry
DOI
10.3390/ijerph19095256
PMID
35564651
PMCID
PMC9103283
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
4-26-2022
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Recommended Citation
Rozas, Natalia S; Strassner, Hillary D; Sadowsky, June M; and Jeter, Cameron B, "Barriers and Motivations to Provide Dental Care to Adult Patients with Movement Disorders" (2022). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 85.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthdb_docs/85
Published Open-Access
yes
