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. 2024 Nov 2;10(1):83.
doi: 10.1038/s41405-024-00264-x.

Dental team barriers and enablers for the dental management of adults with severe obesity: a qualitative analysis

Zanab Malik  1   2 , Kate A McBride  3   4 , Kathryn Williams  5   6 , Deborah Cockrell  7 , Clare E Collins  7   8
Affiliations

Dental team barriers and enablers for the dental management of adults with severe obesity: a qualitative analysis

Zanab Malik et al. BDJ Open. .

Abstract

Background: Broad challenges regarding the dental management of people with severe obesity experienced by general dentists have been minimally explored. The perspectives of the dental team regarding these multifaceted issues are currently unknown and they potentially impede the delivery of optimal dental care to this population and contribute to poor oral and general health.

Aims: Our qualitative study aimed to identify and explore barriers and enablers in the dental management of adults with severe obesity among dental professionals and support staff in Australia.

Methods: Focus groups and semi-structured interviews (n = 34 participants) were conducted with dental professionals (n = 23) and support staff (n = 11). Recordings were transcribed verbatim and synthesised using thematic, inductive analysis.

Results: Multiple barriers to adequate provision of dental care for people living with severe obesity in both general and specialist dental settings were identified. Key themes emerged related to the clinical challenges reported by participants in providing dental management for people living with severe obesity, appropriateness of existing bariatric dental service provision and safety of care. Enablers to access were identified, including increased availability of bariatric dental chairs, environmental modifications, education of both patients and the entire dental team and for guideline development.

Conclusion: The current study explored multiple barriers to optimal dental management of people living with severe obesity in both general and specialist dental settings. Enablers should be used to inform future practice. The optimisation of existing bariatric dental service provision requires urgent review with solutions guided by systemic change. Study findings suggest a review of current health systems, economics, access barriers, policies and procedures and education and training beyond the individual level are needed. Future directions to improve the dental management of people living with severe obesity are proposed.

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Conflict of interest statement

ZM, DC and CEC have no conflicts of interest to declare in the publication of this paper. KW reports grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Novo Nordisk, grants and others from Boehringer Ingelheim, outside the submitted work; and is the Clinical Lead and Manager of the Nepean Blue Mountains Family Metabolic Health Service, a tertiary lifespan obesity service in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ethics approval was obtained from the Central Coast Local Health District Human Research Office for this Human Research Ethics Committee Exempt and Low/Negligible Risk research project (number 1122-101C). All participants provided their informed consent to participate.

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