Abstract
This scoping review maps a wide array of literature to identify academic programs that have been developed to enhance oral health care for rural and remote populations and to provide an overview of their outcomes. Arksey and O’Malley’s 5-stage scoping review framework has steered this review. We conducted a literature search with defined eligibility criteria through electronic databases, websites of academic records, professional and rural oral health care organizations as well as grey literature spanning the time interval from the late 1960s to May 2017. The charted data was classified, analyzed and reported using a thematic approach. A total of 72 citations (67 publications and seven websites) were selected for the final review. The review identified 62 universities with program initiatives towards improving access to oral health care in rural and remote communities. These initiatives were classified into three categories: training and education of dental and allied health students and professionals, education and training of rural and remote community members and oral health care services. The programs were successful in terms of dental students’ positive perception about rural practice and their enhanced competencies, students’ increased adoption of rural practices, non-dental health care providers’ improved oral health knowledge and self-efficacy, rural oral health and oral health services’ improvement, as well as cost-effectiveness compared to other strategies. The results of our review suggest that these innovative programs were effective in improving access to oral health care in rural and remote regions and may serve as models for other academic institutions that have not yet implemented such programs.
Highlights
Dental workforce shortages in rural and remote areas have been reported throughout the world [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
Shortages of dental professionals can lead to reduced accessibility to oral health services and poorer oral health status for rural dwellers than for urban populations [2, 7, 12,13,14,15]
It has been reported that people living in rural and remote areas have more unmet dental care needs, poorer oral health knowledge and practices and higher rates of dental caries [14, 16, 17]
Summary
Dental workforce shortages in rural and remote areas have been reported throughout the world [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Shortages of dental professionals can lead to reduced accessibility to oral health services and poorer oral health status for rural dwellers than for urban populations [2, 7, 12,13,14,15]. It has been reported that people living in rural and remote areas have more unmet dental care needs, poorer oral health knowledge and practices and higher rates of dental caries [14, 16, 17]. The impact of academic initiatives on an increased rural dental workforce and the concomitant promotion of rural oral health status is less clear, emphasizing the need to conduct this comprehensive review
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