Strategies to improve oral healthcare presentations in rural antenatal women

Aim or Purpose What is the effectiveness of targeted stakeholder engagement on oral healthcare presentations in rural socially disadvantaged antenatal women? Materials and Methods Participants were antenatal women, 18 years of age and over who were concession or pension card holders. Key stakeholders (midwives and obstetric trained General Practitioners [GPs]) were educated on the importance of oral healthcare in antenatal women and provided with a referral form. A 10-month pre and post intervention period was compared and contrasted using descriptive statistics. Specifically, the number and type of oral health assessments and treatments undertaken, including the completed courses of treatment on eligible participants were analysed by using Microsoft Excel softwares (Microsoft Excel 2017; North Ryde NSW Australia). The study was assessed and received ethics approval before starting the project Results 62 referrals were received during the intervention period, leading to 44 (70.97%) antenatal assessments and treatments hence 40.36% (N=190, n=44) accessed oral healthcare during this period, compared with 17 antenatal assessments and treatments during the baseline period which means only 15.04% (N=113, n=17) accessed healthcare during the baseline period. The intervention increased access to oral healthcare by 168.32%. Conclusion Targeted stakeholder engagement strategies in a rural community have been found to be an effective method of increasing antenatal referrals of socially disadvantaged women to a rural Public Dental Clinic. Increased antenatal oral healthcare enhances an opportunity to provide more preventative care and results in fewer emergencies and is an example of VBHC.