June 2013

Public health competencies illustrated 1. Oral health promotion specifically targeted for marginalised groups to provide patients prescribed methadone with effective, evidence based advice on maintaining their oral and general health; Written communication; Multidisciplinary working; Oral health inequalities. Initial impetus for action One author, (GI, then an undergraduate) in 2011, found that patients attending Dundee Dental Hospital who were prescribed methadone, reported that they had never previously received oral health advice. After discussion with local pharmacists and General Medical Practitioners, it became clear that those health professionals dispensing methadone felt uncomfortable providing oral health advice as they reported that they were unqualified to do so. After raising the issue as a vocational dental practitioner, national development and distribution of an information leaflet was chosen as the preferred method of delivering a preventive message. This was because it could be easily sent as a digital PDF file to many healthcare professionals at once, even to remote areas such as the Western Isles of Scotland, and could be easily displayed/presented in a clinical setting with other information leaflets and used as a cue to discuss dental health. The intention was not only to help to educate methadone patients, but also provide a way in which other healthcare professionals who are not dentally qualified could give sound evidence-based dental advice confidentially. Key words: oral health, dental health education, dental health services, methadone, opiate substitution treatment, press reaction