Oral Care for Aboriginal Children in Western Australia: Dental Professionals’ Perspectives

Objectives: Given the complex factors underpinning the disproportionate burden of oral disease in Aboriginal children, this paper will present findings from a qualitative research project investigating dental professionals’ perceptions and experiences treating this population group

Methods: Six non-Aboriginal dentists, five oral health therapists and one dental hygenist participated in semi-structured interviews that were recorded and transcribed. Analysis was guided by grounded theory and involved coding, checking and recoding responses that were cross-checked to identify emerging themes.

Results: Responses indicated broader social determinants impacting on Aboriginal children’s oral health that were considered beyond the remit of clinical treatment yet resulted in participants’ frustration at being unable to address such needs within a narrow and inflexible clinical model of care. This included challenges promoting oral health in the face of intense and successful marketing of cariogenic sugar products by the food industry. Several participants felt uncomfortable and unprepared to work effectively with Aboriginal families citing lack of education and training in this area and weak linkages with the Aboriginal community.

Conclusions: Findings highlight challenges dental professionals face to improve oral health in Aboriginal children when faced with broader social determinants impacting on oral health outcomes. Reducing oral health disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children requires political will and government commitment to acknowledge the complexity of the issue and mitigate social determinants that compromise rather than promote oral health