The dental needs, demands and attitudes of a group of homeless people with mental health problems.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the dental needs, demands and attitudes of a group of homeless people living in a hostel in Birmingham, many of whom had mental health problems.


METHODS
Seventy subjects underwent a dental examination. The clinical criteria for the examination were especially selected to be simple and cause minimal discomfort to the subject, but be reproducible and cover the wide range of conditions expected to be found. Five of the subjects were selected to take part in semi structured interviews.


RESULTS
Thirty-one per cent of the subjects were found to be edentulous, with only 32% wearing dentures. The dentate subjects had a mean DMFT (+/-SE) of 15.9 (+/-7.8). High levels of dental need were found amongst the dentate subjects who had an average of 3.6 (+/-3.9) decayed teeth and 54% had one or more teeth with obvious pulpal involvement. Eighty-five per cent of the dentate subjects had some dental wear leading to exposed dentine. The periodontal condition was generally poor, 50% of dentate subjects having excessively mobile teeth. The interviews revealed a low level of perceived need and indicated that difficulties would be encountered in tailoring services to meet this client group's requirements.


CONCLUSIONS
High levels of normative need were found in this group of people, however it was concluded that providing dental services to meet this need would prove difficult.
Waplington
J
J
Department of Dental Public Health, University of Birmingham, UK.
Morris
J
J
Bradnock
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D019217:Tooth Attrition / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology