Questionnaire on the Current Status of Pediatric Home Dental Care in Kanagawa Prefecture

―Report 1 : Survey of Primary Dental Institutions―

Abstract

With the number of children receiving treatment at home increasing, various initiatives for pediatric home dental care are gradually being implemented. However, the actual status of provision of dental care has not been fully understood. Therefore, we identified issues and examined future initiatives to understand the actual status of pediatric home dental care and problems in the current situation at primary medical institutions in Kanagawa Prefecture that provide dental care for the handicapped.

Responses were obtained from 220 of the 753 targeted primary medical institutions (response rate : 29.2%). Few primary medical institutions were able to provide pediatric home care. 85.5% of the institutions responded that multidisciplinary collaboration was necessary, and the most common institutions with which they should collaborate were medical institutions (department of medicine), followed by welfare and health centers, with physicians and visiting nurses as the most common job categories with which information should be shared. The most common dental care that could be provided in pediatric home dental care was “oral care” (185 cases, 84.1%), and feeding and swallowing therapy (103 cases, 46.8%). The most frequently cited problems in implementation were “insufficient manpower” and “concerns about response to unforeseen situations and liability issues.” 65.9% of the respondents wished to participate in the workshop.

It was considered necessary to clarify the procedures that should be provided in pediatric home dental care, to hold training sessions to enhance the necessary expertise and disseminate techniques, and to create a system that facilitates collaboration among multiple professions.