Premium
A scoping review on dental clinic accessibility for people using wheelchairs
Author(s) -
Makansi Nora,
Blaizot Alessandra,
Vergnes JeanNoel,
Morris Martin,
Rousseau Jacqueline,
Bedos Christophe
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/scd.12565
Subject(s) - wheelchair , medicine , thematic analysis , dental care , critical appraisal , physical space , medline , medical education , alternative medicine , family medicine , world wide web , qualitative research , pathology , computer science , social science , cartography , sociology , political science , law , geography
Aims We aimed to explore the scientific literature on accessible dental clinics for wheelchair users. More specifically, we sought out literature addressing how the human environment and physical space shape the dental services of accessible dental clinics. Methods We conducted a scoping review (May 2019) in Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Avery index of architectural Periodicals (3994 articles). We followed Arksey and O'Malley's recommended procedures; after screening, we retained 17 articles. We performed a critical appraisal, followed by thematic content analyses of extracted data. Results The articles originated mainly from the United States and United Kingdom. Only three reported original research. We illustrated the results within a three‐step dental care pathway cycle. In each step, the interaction between accessibility of the physical and human environments (ie, the layout/design of the clinic and the attitudes and skills of the dental professional, respectively) contributed to the overall accessibility. We also found that empirical evidence on clinics’ accessibility was lacking: many articles resorted to broad “one size fits all” recommendations and fragmented information on accessibility. Finally, the voice of wheelchair users was missing. Conclusion There are knowledge gaps in terms of dental clinics' accessibility. We thus invite researchers to conduct original studies with dental professionals, wheelchair users, and their caregivers.