Projects
017 – Facilitators and barriers to oral health for children with cardiac conditions
- Chief Investigator A: Prof David Manton
- Chief Investigator B: A/Prof Michael Cheung
- Chief Investigator C: A/Prof Nicky Kilpatrick
- Chief Investigator D: A/Prof Kerrod Hallett
- Associate Investigator: Dr Kelly Oliver
- Research Collaborator: Dr Supriya Raj
- Support: MCRI Heart Research Group
About
Children with congenital heart disease are reported to have poor oral health outcomes, with high rates of untreated carious lesions. A recent audit of children with cardiac conditions attending the Royal Children’s Hospital Dentistry Department found that the mean age of presentation to the Dentistry Department was five years, with almost half presenting with untreated carious lesions. The high rate of untreated carious lesions suggests difficulty accessing adequate dental care, and raises questions about whether these children attend dental clinics in a private or public setting, and what the barriers and facilitators are to accessing care.
Aims
- Explore the knowledge of, attitudes about and experiences with oral health care for parents
- Investigate the knowledge, practices and experiences of oral health professionals in the provision of oral health care for children with cardiac conditions
- Investigate what approaches would help facilitate the future provision of care for children with cardiac conditions from a parent, oral health professional and organisational perspective
- Develop tools and resources for parents and oral health professionals to improve access to oral health care for children will cardiac conditions
Expected outcomes
It is anticipated the results will be used to develop tools and resources for parents and oral health professionals to improve access to oral health care for children with cardiac conditions.
