The Mouth Matters in Mental Health Study (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An intervention using mental health support workers as link workers to improve dental visiting in people with severe mental illness: The Mouth Matters in Mental Health Trial.
IRAS ID
304696
Contact name
Jasper Palmier-Claus
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN13650779
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Severe mental illness (SMI) affects around 1% of the population. It includes depression, psychosis, and bipolar disorder. People with SMI often have problems with their teeth and gums. They are more likely to have missing, filled, and decayed teeth than people without SMI. Having poor oral health impacts a lot of everyday activities like eating, speaking and smiling. It can affect how patients see themselves and their mental health.
Dentists can treat many early teeth and gum problems. However, very few people with SMI attend regular dental appointments. Instead, they are more likely to seek help when in crisis and invasive treatments are the only option. Accessing a dentist for people with SMI can be difficult for lots of reasons. Unfortunately, existing dental initiatives have not addressed the barriers facing this group. They do not help people with SMI to attend the dentist.
We want to help people with SMI to access dental care. We will use mental health support workers to link people receiving care from mental health teams with dental services. They will help people to book, plan, attend regular dental appointments, and apply for financial support. People call this type of support link work. Research has indicated that link work can increase dental visits in people who might not normally attend.
We will test whether the link work intervention is feasible. We will do this in a clinical study with 84 people. Half will get the link work intervention. The other half will receive their usual NHS services. This will be decided by chance. We will measure how often people in both groups visit the dentist and the state of their teeth and gums at baseline and after nine months. We will interview patients to discover whether patients and staff found the link work intervention helpful.REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
22/WA/0193
Date of REC Opinion
2 Aug 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion