Importance of oral health
Oral health concerns every humans’ aspect of life though in most cases has been taken lightly. Mouth is like a window into an individual’s healthy body. The oral damages can be used as signs of the general nutrition deficiency (Ashraf, Hussain, Manzoor & Khan,2012). The systematic infections especially the diseases that affect the whole body can become evident due to lesions within the mouth regions or even other oral issues. Whether an individual is eight or eighty years old, his or her oral health is critical. Most countries in the United Kingdom enjoy the proper mouth health (Gil-Montoya, Mello, Barrios, Gonzalez & Bravo,2015). The research was done recently suggest that a considerable number of the individuals grow with their teeth in intact. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014) The cavity remains prevalent to chronic diseases for many individuals within the regions of low socioeconomic groups. These groups of individuals are unable to see the oral specialist every year even if the regular dental assessment and proper mouth hygiene prevent the oral diseases. The perspectives of many people are established on seeing the oral specialist only when the pain or something is not right. Though regular expert visits may be controlled to a long life of dental health. In case of any pain experiences on the individual should not hesitate from visiting an oral health expert (Jackson, Vann, Kotch, Pahel, & Lee, 2011).
Oral health can be termed as a measure of the related oral issues that helps a person to speak, socialise and eat with no active infection. It is not possible to exclude the oral health as a vital component of the health. Negligence to oral health may lead to discomfort and pain to many people due to inequalities within the oral health services (Jaber 2011).
Pitiable oral health care within the low socioeconomic communities has been an issue of concern. The problem is aggregated by deliberate progress in decreasing health disparities among the poor populations. Research has shown that oral infections are highly preventable (Thomson 2012). However, the individuals from the disadvantaged communities possess the worst periodontal infections. Mostly the teeth decay and other treatable mouth infections. Low socioeconomic groups like the indigenous people in Australia have shown the high rate of the oral diseases compared to non-indigenous communities. Various research projects have proven that the risks aspects contributing to poor oral health within these communities are the socioeconomic issue of alcohol, smoking and the diets with high sugar content (Hahn 2014).
Oral health concerns in low socioeconomic groups
The recent research done on the low socioeconomic individuals within the urban centres of the Unitec Kingdom is linked to smoking and diabetes while smoking shown severe oral disease. Apprehending the way, a broader social determinant and how they can hinder decision making in oral health care is essential (Scully & Kirby,2014). Understanding these social determinants will help in trying to avoid trapping tacitly that blame the low socioeconomic groups for their non-compliance with the oral health services. Evidence propose that the low health literacy can be linked to worsening oral diseases and inadequate knowledge on how to prevent these diseases. Other aspects are the high-cost oral health services and decreased socioeconomic state that discharge many people from visiting hospitals for oral health services. In countries like Australia, oral health service has been availed to private and to all low socioeconomic groups like the Aboriginal communities. Though, there are still hindrances to appropriate health services within the Aboriginal communities (Ma, Shi, Hu, & Li, 2012).
For instance, the disrespectful of their culture by the health professionals. The larger group of low socioeconomic individuals faced with oral health problems are the residents of very remote areas. This has resulted in restricted access to oral health services. The disadvantaged groups should, therefore, have incorporated into the healthcare workforce since they are well equipped with knowledge about their culture (Matthews & Gallo,2011).
Improving the oral health call for health literacy promotion and must incorporate individuals from the low economy. The strategy will significantly contribute to preventing oral health infections relevant to the context-specific. The exploration done recently with the groups from the low socioeconomic in the New South Wale uplifting the oral infection burden in the disadvantaged communities like the Aboriginal will positively impact oral health condition in the country. However, though the health has been availed to low socioeconomic societies services have not reached the maximum demand (Griffin, Jones, Brunson, Griffin, & Bailey, 2012).
The research has shown that the inconsistency and the inadequate resources undermine the programs that aim to provide treatment services and maintain oral health standards for poor communities. The health results influence the link between the health practitioners and the patients. The research found in the United States, the oral health practitioners preferred the educated patients, calm and oral health sophisticated. The other recent investigation identified racism within the low socioeconomic group patients. The racism led to reluctance in attending the treatment services. Racism relationship among the people of the low socioeconomic class is unfairly treated (Jamieson, Paradies, Gunthorpe, Cairney & Sayers, 2011). This is seen in events like failure to incorporate the less advantaged communities’ beliefs within the world’s perspectives. The perspectives are based on the institutionalised, or the systematic observed when different authorities between the high socioeconomic class compromise the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups from accessing health services and opportunities (Petersen & Kwan,2011). This aspect has been profoundly contributed to the emergence of racism. Racism has the enormous impact on the low socioeconomic people within the United States. The experience is across all the health sectors overwhelming the employment, education and oral health services despite the harmful to the health workforce. The commitment of the government towards reducing the discrimination among the low socioeconomic groups many times does not succeed (Petersen & Kwan,2011). For instance, people of low socioeconomic are generally under-resourced. They experience inequitable health services, inadequate health education and lacks market-driven health services compared with individuals from high socioeconomic groups (Parker et al. 2012)
Factors contributing to poor oral health
The aspect that affects the oral health of people from the low social groups is not well understood. Mostly, the behaviour is considered to be initiated by other components that can be self-controlled by an individual. For instance, the attitude towards their behaviour and behavioural perception. The study has investigated that the choice and the control of a person can negatively impact the oral wellbeing behaviour. For example, the disruptions associated with the social and the historical situations (Braveman, Egerter & Williams, 2011). Seem to accelerate the health risks behaviours. Substances like alcohol and drug abuse have always been associated with the oral health infections. The research has as well established that smoking as one of the factors that have significantly contributed to promoting the oral health infections. The cultural selfhood and the distinctiveness can add to psychological protections hence encouraging a significant health behaviour in an individual. Colonization in some countries like the United States resulted in racism pervasiveness (Kaplan, & Saccuzzo,2017).
The significant number of people who were affected during this era were people who came from low socioeconomic communities. These people had to spend most of their lives in reserves and missions under high restrictions. Some unfriendly policies like assimilations and the segregation were imposed on them. The conflicts and the restrictions outcome were a loss of life and liberties which brought a lot of transformation to the social and cultural behaviours. These discriminations and the atrocities resulted in a psychological and physical effect within these groups and have always been trans-generational (Dunkel 2011). The link between the health behaviour and other aspects are out of individuals choice or control. Therefore, many individuals especially the medical practitioners must psychologically approach them. The psychological health perspective will assist in examining such aspects related to individuals’ health psychology (Marmot, Allen, Bell, Bloomer & Goldblatt,2012).
These health psychological aspects encompass the information that regards their social and other factors at the group level. Hence the idea of involving the health psychologist in this particular project is fundamental in gaining a broad perspective of the poor oral health that has existed for decades within the groups from low socioeconomic (Law, Dollard, Tuckey & Dormann,2011). These are perspectives that affect their state of oral health habits. Other than health psychologists, the project will as well incorporate other professionals like nurses. These nurses will be useful in examining all aspects that influence the current state of health behaviours within the target group. The project will also consider recruiting one member from the disadvantaged groups will also be involved in giving the insights concerning the healthy lifestyle of the groups (Viner et al. 2012).
Barriers to access to healthcare
The procedure for this project will be guided by the past research projects conducted by the other health research experts within the state and other countries that harbour the indigenous communities. The research references must be based on the health status of the individuals who come from low social, economic backgrounds. The guidelines from the council of National health research for the legal and ethics of the disadvantaged groups shall be strictly adhered to during the entire period of the project. The period is through the implementation, analysis and the planning stages of the project. Concerning the outlined principles in the NHMR, the research group must understand lias with the low socioeconomic groups’ health management in the various selected localities (World Health Organization 2013). The study will be designed concerning the integrity and the privacy of various people that will get involved in the research. For instance, the groups of individuals’ to be interviewed, will be issued with a volunteer to promote the equality and inconsistency. The geographical diversity will be obtained through the samples constituted by the people from the low socioeconomic groups and individuals from a high class socioeconomic. The first step will involve advertising the research, planning for the recruitment in various platforms like health conferences and through approaching the individuals from the health disadvantaged communities. The people from these communities will be closely screened to ensure they are deeply rooted the low socioeconomic groups’ culture and their social practices. The screening shall be conducted through interviews. The recruited participants must have a reliable and close link with the social economically challenged groups. These relationships must be informal and formal overwhelming the high-class socioeconomic communities and low socioeconomic groups (Stoltenborgh, Ijzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2011).
The approval of the ethics for this research project will be obtained from the organisation of the disadvantaged health ethics team and the University research health ethics team. Various groups to be involved in this study shall be issued with a written consent before the exact date of the data collection. During the interview, the first framed question will focus on the background of the group under the investigation. The second question will be based on the various issues that have influenced poor oral health state of the poor communities. Problems shall be iterative, giving the participants to an opportunity to express themselves on parts they feel necessary freely. The analysis will involve the audio recording of the interviews. The data collected will be analysed and then compared with other researchers for triangulation purposes (Patel, Chowdhary, Rahman & Verdeli, 2011).
Improving oral health literacy
References
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