title: Describing the role of Australian community pharmacists in oral healthcare.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate community pharmacist's attitudes, beliefs and practices towards oral health in the Australian setting, describe the frequency and nature of consumer enquiries relating to oral health, and gain insight regarding smoking cessation support for people experiencing oral health problems.
  
  
  METHODS
  An online questionnaire was developed based on previous research, validated to ensure accuracy and reliability, and convenience sampling used to advertise across major pharmacy organisational websites and newsletters to maximise community pharmacist responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and forty-four valid community pharmacist responses were descriptively analysed. The majority of pharmacists (93%) believed it was their role to deliver oral health advice in the community and almost all (97%) pharmacists believed further education would benefit their practice. The top four consumer enquiries pharmacists reported confidence in handling related to analgesic medication to relieve oral-related pain (95.8%), mouth ulcers (95.1%), oral thrush (94.4%) and toothache (93.8%); and the most frequently reported consumer enquires were those where the majority of pharmacists reported high confidence in handling. A small proportion of pharmacists (8%) always enquired about patient smoking status, and nearly all pharmacists (97%) desired further education and training to benefit their practice in oral healthcare.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlights that Australian pharmacists have an important role in oral health and there is opportunity to enhance this role, and address risk factors such as smoking with further training, support and education. The findings from this study can guide future research into the development of appropriate training programmes, standards, and best oral healthcare practices for Australian pharmacists.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Meng-Wong
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Taing
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Pauline J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and UQ Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Coral E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Gartner
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Freeman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D009909:Oral Health; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: community pharmacist; extended/enhanced roles; oral healthcare; primary care