title: Access to Dental Services for People Using a Wheelchair.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the perspectives of people using a wheelchair and their difficulties in accessing dental services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our participatory research was on the basis of a partnership between people using a wheelchair, dental professionals, and academic researchers. Partners were involved in a committee that provided advice at all stages of the project. Our team adopted a qualitative descriptive design. Between October 2011 and October 2012 we conducted semistructured individual interviews with 13 adults who lived in Montreal, Québec, Canada, and used a wheelchair full time. We audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim interviews, and we interpreted data using an inductive thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Oral health is of heightened importance to this group of people, who tend to use their mouth as a "third hand." We identified successive challenges in accessing dental services: finding a dentist and being accepted, organizing transportation, entering the building and circulating inside, interacting with the dental staff, transferring and overcoming discomfort on the dental chair, and paying for the treatments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Governments, dental professional bodies, dental schools, and researchers should work with groups representing wheelchair users to improve access to dental services.
authors.affiliation: Farnaz Rashid-Kandvani, Belinda Nicolau, and Christophe Bedos are with the Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Farnaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rashid-Kandvani
authors.affiliation: Farnaz Rashid-Kandvani, Belinda Nicolau, and Christophe Bedos are with the Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nicolau
authors.affiliation: Farnaz Rashid-Kandvani, Belinda Nicolau, and Christophe Bedos are with the Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bedos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001107:Architectural Accessibility / Q000379:methods; D003729:Dental Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011792:Quebec; D014186:Transportation; D014910:Wheelchairs; D055815:Young Adult