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A multidisciplinary dental program for community‐living adults with chronic mental illness

1998; Wiley; Volume: 18; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1754-4505.1998.tb01739.x

1754-4505

Jane M. Chalmers, Dell Kingsford Smith, Knute D. Carter,

Dental Anxiety and Anesthesia Techniques

Only recently have reports described specialized large-scale dental programs for community-living adults with chronic mental illness. In response to requests from community mental health center case managers, a multidisciplinary team from Central Sydney Area Health Service dentistry, mental health, and transport services joined together to develop a pilot dental program. The aim was to profile the dental needs of community-living clients with chronic mental illness and to improve clients' utilization of inner Sydney public dental services. A review of clients' dental problems and access is presented, together with a description of the pilot program developed by the multidisciplinary team. A profile of the initial dental needs of the participants, and information on the participants' utilization of the pilot dental program is documented. This multidisciplinary approach was successful in developing a program to profile dental needs of clients, and improved the access to public dental services for the majority of clients. There was a subgroup of clients who did not utilize the program, and further follow-up of these clients is needed. This multidisciplinary approach could be useful in the development and funding of other special care dental programs.