The “Let’s Talk About Teeth“ Dental Health Project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The “Let’s Talk about Teeth” Dental Health Research Project of Looked After Children in Tower Hamlets, UK
IRAS ID
139490
Contact name
Desmond Wright
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Public Health, Education, Social Care and Wellbeing, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Research summary
Looked after children (LAC) are more likely to suffer from physical, mental and sexual health problems than other children due to physical abuse and neglect prior to entering care. LAC could also have poor dental health but we have little supporting evidence because LAC are not identified in local or national dental health surveys. Annual dental check-ups (part of LAC health assessments) only document if children have had a dental visit in the past year. We know very little about what dental problems or treatment LAC have or need. Even though most LAC are placed in foster homes, no research to date has explored foster carers’ experiences of managing and supporting looked after children’s dental health.
The “Let’s Talk about Teeth” study will address these knowledge gaps. The study has two parts. Part 1 will be a dental health survey of five-15 year-old LAC placed by Tower Hamlets in foster homes under full or interim care orders. Initial contact with LAC will be made via social workers using a two-stage consent-assent process. LAC will take part in a five to 10 minute dental survey check-up in their foster homes carried out by a specially trained dentist using the UK 2013 Children Dental Health Survey protocol. Twelve to 15-year-old LAC will also complete a survey questionnaire. This survey will allow us to identify the dental health needs of LAC: an essential requirement for planning appropriate dental services. Part 2 will involve focus group interviews with foster carers in Tower Hamlets. The objectives of the focus groups are to explore foster carers’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences of managing the dental health of LAC. This will allow us to identify training needs, which could be fed back to foster carers or included in foster carers’ training resources.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
14/IEC08/0003
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jan 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion