A multidisciplinary dental program for community-living adults with chronic mental illness.
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.
Chalmers
J M
JM
Department of Dentistry, University of Adelaide, Australia.
Kingsford Smith
D
D
Carter
K D
KD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003149:Community Dentistry / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017742:Dental Care for Chronically Ill / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D003778:Dentures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012559:Schizophrenia; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000078329:Workforce