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. 2026 Jan;39(1):e70174.
doi: 10.1111/jar.70174.

Opportunities to Support Oral Health Professionals Overcome the Barriers They Experience When Treating Patients With Disabilities and Additional Health Care Needs

Mathew Albert Wei Ting Lim  1   2   3 , Brian To  1 , Michelle Chow  1 , Yuti Gandhi  1 , Jennifer Nguyen  1 , Xinyuan Yang  1 , Ruth Heredia  4   5 , Mihiri Silva  1   6   7 , Claudia Patricia Lopez Silva  8   9
Affiliations

Opportunities to Support Oral Health Professionals Overcome the Barriers They Experience When Treating Patients With Disabilities and Additional Health Care Needs

Mathew Albert Wei Ting Lim et al. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2026 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Dental professionals experience challenges that impact on their willingness to treat patients with disabilities and additional health care needs, resulting in poorer access to dental care and unmet treatment needs.

Method: Fifty-eight public-sector oral health professionals responded to an online survey. They responded to questions about the barriers they encountered when treating patients with disabilities and additional healthcare needs and their preferences for support.

Results: Clinicians reported environment-related factors to have the greatest impact on treatment of patients with intellectual and physical disabilities (94.8%). Clinician-related barriers were the least reported (67.2%). Participants felt that having greater flexibility in appointments and support from more experienced clinicians would be most likely to encourage clinicians to treat these patients. Most (83.0%) were interested in developing their skills and knowledge.

Conclusions: There is significant opportunity for additional supports for clinicians to improve access to dental care for people with special healthcare needs.

Plain language summary

This study explored the challenges experienced by dental clinicians working in the public sector in Victoria, Australia to describe how these impact on the dental care of different subgroups with disabilities and additional health care needs. Clinicians reported environmental factors to impact most significantly on those with intellectual and physical disabilities. Flexibility in the way appointments are conducted and support from more experienced clinicians were suggested as ways to overcome this. Most clinicians were interested in developing their skills and knowledge to help manage patients with disabilities and additional health care needs.

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References

    1. da Rosa, S. V., S. J. Moysés, L. C. Theis, et al. 2020. “Barriers in Access to Dental Services Hindering the Treatment of People With Disabilities: A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Dentistry 2020: 9074618.
    1. Dental Board of Australia. 2025. “Dental Board of Australia Registrant Data. Reporting Period: 01 October 2024 to 31 December 2024.”
    1. Dental Board of Australia. n.d. “List of Specialties.”
    1. Department of Health. 2021. “National Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability.” Commonwealth of Australia.
    1. Department of Health and Aged Care. 2024a. “Modified Monash Model (MMM) 2019.” https://data.gov.au.

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