# Exploring the Education and Perceptions of Dental Professionals Toward Poverty and Oral Health Disparities: A Scoping Review

## TL;DR

This scoping review explores how dental professionals understand poverty and what educational interventions exist to address oral health disparities.

## Contribution

This is the first review to specifically examine dental professionals' perceptions of poverty and oral health disparities.

## Key findings

- There are conflicting understandings of poverty among dental professionals.
- Educational interventions like outreach and immersive experiences improve attitudes toward providing care for people in poverty.
- More research is needed on the long-term effectiveness of these educational interventions.

## Abstract

The objective of the present study was to map the available research, investigating how dental professionals perceive those who experience poverty, and what educational interventions are available in this area, with the aim of providing a narrative summary and identifying key research gaps within the literature.

Following Joanna Briggs scoping review methodology, databases searched included PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Dentistry and Oral Sciences, Health Research Premium and Web of Science databases. A manual search was also performed on Google Scholar to identify grey literature. Search strategies included medical subject headings and key terms including poverty, financial hardship, social deprivation, oral health, oral diseases, dental caries, communication, learning and dental education.

A total of 1046 articles were assessed for eligibility, of which 34 studies met the predefined inclusion criteria. The studies included in this review highlight conflicting understandings about what it means to be living in poverty. Outreach activities shared lived experiences, and immersive opportunities were reported to improve dental professionals' attitudes and willingness to provide dental care for people living in poverty.

To the study teams' knowledge, this is the first review to examine specifically how poverty and oral health are understood by the dental profession. This review highlights the need for further research as to the long‐term effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness of educational interventions to increase understanding.