Community-based oral health interventions for people experiencing homelessness: a scoping review

Objective: To determine the characteristics of community-based oral health interventions for people experiencing homelessness.

Basic research design: A scoping review was conducted, adhering to the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Scoping Reviews) checklist. A search strategy was developed using MeSH terms and key words, and used to search the following electronic databases: Medline/PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest Assia, Scopus, Web of Science and PsychNet. Key journals and reference lists were also hand-searched. Two reviewers then read the abstracts of all papers, excluding duplicates and papers that did not meet the eligibility criteria. The reviewers then read to full-texts of the studies to be included in the review.

Results: Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. These studies were predominantly evaluations of community-based dental services or other oral health interventions. Several recommendations were extracted. Interventions should involve co-design with homeless service users; multidisciplinary working, collaboration with dental practitioners, and working with educational establishments. The location of community-based services was also found to be of importance.

Conclusion: This review has highlighted several recommendations, as well as gaps in the literature. These gaps suggest a need for more non-clinical oral health interventions for the homeless population, and a closer look at the role that non-dental practitioners can play in the delivery of oral health care.