2025 Volume 75 Issue 2 Pages 97-101
Reducing health inequalities has been identified as an important goal in Health Japan 21 and Basic Matters for the Promotion of Dental and Oral Health. Social determinants of health, such as poverty and single-parent families, are considered to contribute to health inequalities by limiting economic and temporal resources, making it more difficult for children to receive dental care. Dental neglect is a form of medical neglect that refers to the denial of access to oral healthcare, resulting in serious impairment of the child’s health and development. Childhood maltreatment increases the risk of tooth loss in old age and affects the overall health. Therefore, this study focuses on dental neglect and introduces collaborative efforts among a dental clinic, children’s cafeteria, and the government to address this problem. Dental clinic A and children’s cafeteria B collaborated to approach high-risk groups by providing free dental health education through regular lectures. Additionally, volunteer staff accompanied the children to the dental clinic for checkups and treatment. Eventually, dental checkups will be conducted during health lectures in the children’s cafeteria to identify neglected children. This will lead to more children being accompanied for treatment, creating a system in which more children can receive necessary dental care, and contributing to a reduction in health inequality.
