Putting some bite into oral health education

Oral Health Services Tasmania senior clinician Dr Ioan Jones is passionate about collaborating with other health professionals to achieve better patient outcomes. This has led him to work with many fellow health colleagues and university students to educate health professionals on oral health issues and how they contribute to overall health.

Education for health professionals

With a high number of hospital emergency presentations being due to oral health problems, it is important hospital emergency department and other clinicians are knowledgeable in oral health practices and pathways.

GPs also have an important role in patients’ oral health—in addition to patients who specifically present with dental issues, GPs can opportunistically check patients for underlying oral health problems.

‘We also work with other Tasmanian Health Service colleagues, with OHST’s health promotion coordinator Jenny McKibben, working closely with midwives and child health and parenting professionals’, Dr Jones said.

‘Oral health professionals working in partnership with other health professionals allows all of us to collectively provide our patients with the best care and outcomes possible. It is truly the most

Dr Ioan Jones with friend

satisfying thing I have experienced in my career,’ Dr Jones said.

‘It is important to identify other areas in health where it could be appropriate and useful to opportunistically refer a patient to oral health services, or discuss ways to improve their oral health. It could be something as simple as convincing hospitalised patients to brush their

Dr Malcolm Vernon of the Australian Antarctic

Division during training at OHST with Dental Assistant

Alex Brakey (centre) and dentist Dr Jasmine Holgate

teeth twice a day, or getting midwives or child health professionals to discuss good infant and child oral health habits with new parents,’ Dr Jones said.

Embedding oral health in university degrees

A major success for Dr Jones and Oral Health Services Tasmania has been the introduction of oral health into the curriculum for third year medical students and pharmacy students at the University of Tasmania (UTAS). ‘Building a strong relationship with the university in this way will help improve the oral health knowledge of our future doctors and pharmacists. It will also help doctors to better identify oral health issues in patients, make appropriate diagnoses, and have a good working knowledge of oral health referral pathways.

Oral health questions are included in UTAS medical student exams.

Dr Jones said pharmacies were often the first place visited by people with oral health pain. The advice provided at that point was extremely valuable in determining eventual outcomes.

‘Educating pharmacy students for such scenarios is therefore essential in ensuring that sound information is provided to the community along with an appropriate referral to oral health and dental services.’

Antarctic, rural and remote medical training

GPs are often the sole primary health professional in rural and remote communities.

Of all such communities, none is as remote as Antarctica. Training doctors in oral health before they head to Antarctica is therefore an important and unique part of Oral Health Services Tasmania’s education strategy. This ensures oral health medical support is available in one of the most remote places on Earth.

Dr Jones also hosts live webinars on oral health topics for rural and remote GPs working in communities that have limited access to dentists.

Future developments

In the short term, Oral Health Services Tasmania

aims to introduce oral health into the UTAS Bachelor

of Nursing curriculum.

‘Nurses build strong relationships with patients

and their families in all stages of life and across all

medical disciplines’, Dr Jones said. ‘It makes sense

to equip nurses with the skills and knowledge to be

effective oral health advocates for all Tasmanians.’

‘In the medium to longer term we are looking to

connect with more health services and community

groups, providing education, resources, and

information on oral health issues and pathways,’