Dental News - Students of dental sciences in Australia lack education about deaf patients

Anisha Hall Hoppe, Dental Tribune International

Tue. 9. May 2023

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NEDLANDS, Australia: According to the World Health Organization, nearly 20% of the world’s population is affected by some form of hearing loss. As one in six people in Australia are also affected to some degree, Australian researchers investigated the extent to which students in dental programmes felt prepared to connect with and provide care to the deaf population of Australia. Their findings revealed a distinct lack of training that could potentially impact the dental service deaf patients receive.

The authors note disparities in the oral health education deaf individuals receive because of a lack of Deaf-oriented resources and the dearth of Deaf cultural training among dental practitioners. The authors assert that systemic issues can be better observed and addressed by viewing deaf individuals as part of a cultural community instead of as a disabled group, as is the case with other minority groups. The researchers also note a study that emphasises that education from a cultural perspective can improve patient care, addressing consent-based medico-legal issues and errors in diagnosis and medication prescription, for example.

The current study involved surveying more than 250 students in dentistry, oral health therapy and dental hygiene from 13 institutions in Australia about their previous experience with individuals who were deaf or hard of hearing and their participation in an Australian Sign Language (Auslan) course. Of the responding students, 55.7% indicated that they had prior exposure to hard-of-hearing or deaf individuals, 64.9% said that they were aware of the existence of Deaf culture and 90.8% had never participated in an Auslan course. Interestingly, those who had taken an Auslan course reported more confidence in communicating with patients about needed behavioural changes and in communicating with challenging patients. They were also more knowledgeable about Deaf culture.

The students were also asked an open-ended question regarding what they believed are possible challenges that deaf individuals may face during a dental appointment. The most frequent themes included inability to share dental issues like pain, the inability of the clinician to communicate the required treatment, misunderstandings, a lack of qualified interpreters, not being able to obtain informed consent, and mask wearing or physical position of the treatment chair preventing visual access.

In naming these difficulties, the respondents tended to implicitly assign responsibility for addressing these to the deaf patient and Deaf community, the clinician and overall dental community, or the interpreter and interpreting organisation. Those who had experience with Auslan assigned responsibility more often to the dental clinician than those without such experience, who placed responsibility on the deaf patient.

To achieve a proper standard of care for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients, the researchers emphasise that healthcare providers should consider cultural differences and any obstacles to offering equitable service for those with disabilities. The authors also suggested designing clinics to facilitate treatment of deaf people, providing Auslan training and training in Deaf cultural awareness, ensuring better oral health education in schools with deaf students, designing tailored resources for the Deaf community and providing professional development courses for interpreters.

The team cited a success story of including sign language in a dental school curriculum as evidence for their suggestions. In conjunction with Auslan courses where possible, the researchers suggest implementing Deaf awareness training that consists of practical and social training on effective communication with deaf individuals carried out by trained Deaf facilitators. At a minimum, ensuring staff awareness of deaf patients, providing Auslan or basic English resources, text or email points of contact and determining patient communication preferences are easy-to-implement solutions to start with.

The study, titled “Dental and oral health students’ preparedness for the management of deaf patients: A cross-sectional survey”, was published online on 7 March 2023 in the Journal of Dental Sciences, ahead of inclusion in an issue.