Special health care needs (SHCNs) individuals experience higher levels of dental problems including accessing oral health (OH) facilities. Improving standard of OH care in SHCNs requires identifying barriers and enablers. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of prior researches to identify OH care barriers and enablers for SHCN individuals. Electronic searching was conducted systematically in PubMed and Cochrane databases. The PICOS parameters were formulated for the inclusion of studies, and the PRISMA method was used to select the articles. Two reviewers independently screened the articles for eligibility and to minimise the risk of bias in the studies and also searched the contents of key articles, quality of methodology, outcomes and reference lists of all the studies included. A total of 1316 (PubMed 956, Cochrane 360) studies were found initially and after title and abstract screening and also removal of duplication, reviewers selected 53 papers from PubMED and 19 articles from Cochrane to go through full articles and led to the final confirmation of 21 studies. Common challenges included lack of OH knowledge and awareness, difficulty in accessing treatment, transportation problem, treatment cost, and lack of inter-professional collaboration for specialized services. Potential solutions included OHE training and services for patients and caregivers, easy access to dental services, specialized dental practitioners and use of a combination of expertise to meet the demands of SHCN individuals. This brief analysis will establish dental obstacles to the provision of information to policymakers for SHCN population at organizational, individuals and policy levels. It will help in effective planning for providing and improving OH care quality in caregivers.

Oral health is a likely source of health inequalities in children with special health care needs (CSHCN), according to multiple studies. This systematic review aimed to explore the evidence of family influence—as well as family features, such as societal variables and parents’ perspectives—on these children’s dental caries status. Embase, Ebsco, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were all searched. All cross-sectional research published on the variables of family impact ranging from 2010 to 2021 were considered. The DMFT and dmft index was utilised for the report data of dental caries, whereas the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) was used for the purposes of assessing quality. Of the 3861 records identified, 14 were eligible. Further, most of the studies had a caries prevalence of over 50%, (p-value < 0.005). Family influences imparted a significant relationship and association towards the dental caries status of the demographic being studied. The influences on the children included tooth brushing behaviour, parents’ education level, parents’ occupation level, diet pattern, dental visit, snacking frequency, parents’ psychological status, family size, and parents’ knowledge towards oral health. Future research should further explore the family functioning domains, specifically among the CSHCN population. This study was registered on PROSPERO, number CRD42021274923.

J Int Soc Prevent Communit Dent, Official publication of International Society of Preventive and Community Dentistry (ISPCD)