The dental needs, demands and attitudes of a group of homeless people withmental health problems

Objective This study investigated the dental needs, demands and attitudes o f a group of homeless people living in a hostel in Birmingham, many of whom had mental health problems. Basic research design Seventy subjects underwe nt a dental examination. The clinical criteria for the examination were esp ecially selected to be simple and cause minimal discomfort to the subject, but be reproducible and cover the wide range of conditions expected to be f ound. Five of the subjects were selected to take part in semi structured in terviews. Results Thirty-one per cent of the subjects were found to be eden tulous, with only 32% wearing dentures. The dentate subjects had a mean DMF T (+/-SE) of 15.9 (+/-7.8). High levels of dental need were found amongst t he dentate subjects who had an average of 3.6 (+/-3.9) decayed teeth and 54 % had one or more teeth with obvious pulpal involvement. Eighty-five percen t of the dentate subjects had some dental wear leading to exposed dentine. The periodontal condition was generally poor, 50% of dentate subjects havin g excessively mobile teeth. The interviews revealed a low level of perceive d need and indicated that difficulties would be encountered in tailoring se rvices to meet this client group's requirements. Conclusions High levels of nonnative need were found in this group of people, however it was conclude d that providing dental services to meet this need would prove difficult.