Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Apr 7:14:33.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6831-14-33.

Care coordination among pediatricians and dentists: a cross-sectional study of opinions of North Carolina dentists

Rocio B Quinonez  1 , Ashley M Kranz, Marshall Long, R Gary Rozier
Affiliations

Care coordination among pediatricians and dentists: a cross-sectional study of opinions of North Carolina dentists

Rocio B Quinonez et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Background: Care coordination between physicians and dentists remains a challenge. This study of dentists providing pediatric dental care examined their opinions about physicians' role in oral health and identified factors associated with these opinions.

Methods: North Carolina general and pediatric dentists were surveyed on their opinions of how physicians should proceed after caries risk assessment and evaluation of an 18-month-old, low risk child. We estimated two multinomial logistic regression models to examine dentists' responses to the scenario under the circumstances of an adequate and a limited dental workforce.

Results: Among 376 dentists, 52% of dentists indicated physicians should immediately refer this child to a dental home with an adequate dental workforce. With a limited workforce, 34% recommended immediate referral. Regression analysis indicated that with an adequate workforce guideline awareness was associated with a significantly lower relative risk of dentists' recommending the child remain in the medical home than immediate referral.

Conclusions: Dentists' opinions and professional guidelines on how physicians should promote early childhood oral health differ and warrant strategies to address such inconsistencies. Without consistent guidelines and their application, there is a missed opportunity to influence provider opinions to improve access to dental care.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Al-Habashneh R, Barghout N, Humbert L, Khader Y, Alwaeli H. Diabetes and oral health: doctors’ knowledge, perception and practice. J Eval Clin Pract. 2010;16(5):976–980. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2009.01245.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sumi Y, Ozawa N, Miura H, Miura H, Toba K. Community coordination of dental care needs in a home medical care support ward and at home. Nihon Ronen Igakkai Zasshi. 2011;48(4):391–396. doi: 10.3143/geriatrics.48.391. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sabbagh HJ, El-Kateb M, Al Nowaiser A, Hanno AG, Alamoudi NH. Assessment of pediatricians dental knowledge, attitude and behavior in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. J Clin Pediatr Dent. 2011;35(4):371–376. - PubMed
    1. Ismail AI, Nainar SM, Sohn W. Children’s first dental visit: attitudes and practices of US pediatricians and family physicians. Pediatr Dent. 2003;25(5):425–430. - PubMed
    1. AlYousef Y, Damiano P, Weber-Gasparoni K, Qian F, Murph J, Nothwehr F. Medical students’ child oral-health-related knowledge, practices and attitudes. Eur J Dent Educ. 2013;17(4):218–224. doi: 10.1111/eje.12041. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms