Abstract
The aim of this research was to conduct an oral health and psychosocial needs assessment of a homeless population in Scotland to determine the levels of unmet need and provide recommendations for oral health improvement. A non-probability convenience sample of homeless people residing in seven Scottish Health Boards was collected. All consenting participants were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their health and psychosocial needs, dental anxiety, and oral health-related quality of life. The participants’ oral health was examined by a trained and calibrated dentist and dental nurse. Eight hundred and fifty-three homeless people consented to take part. Participants had a mean D3cvMFT score of 16.9 (95% CI: 16.3, 17.6). Dental anxiety was high, with 20% scoring as dentally phobic. Respondents with higher dental anxiety were found to have significantly greater mean numbers of filled teeth than those with lower dental anxiety (t = −2.9, p < 0.05). Common oral health impacts were painful aching and discomfort while eating, experienced occasionally by 31% and 27% of the respondents, respectively. Fifty-eight percent of participants were found to have a depressive illness, and obvious decay experience was significantly higher among this section of participants (t = −4.3, p < 0.05). Homeless people in Scotland were found to be in need of a more accessible dental service than is currently available. An enhanced service should meet the oral health and psychosocial needs of this population to improve their oral health and quality of life.
Highlights
In Scotland, between 2012 and 2013, 39,827 homelessness applications were made
Standards stated that “there are a wide range of health problems which are more prevalent amongst homeless people than the wider population . . . chronic diseases . . . infectious diseases.” [6] (p. 12)
Action Plan [7], and the importance of oral health status was reinforced by the National Oral Health
Summary
In Scotland, between 2012 and 2013, 39,827 homelessness applications were made. Sixty-five percent of those making the applications were single people. Thirty percent of homeless applications were from single households with children (i.e., one parent families). Overall, represented a fall by some 13% in homelessness applications, the proportion of those considered as a priority, or frontline homeless, had risen by 5% between 2011 and 2013. This suggested that the number of those with an acute housing need had not fallen, but rather had increased [1]. Those who are roofless and those who are houseless (residing in insecure and/or inadequate accommodation) are characterized as experiencing homelessness
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