Robertson Caroline V, Clough Bonnie, Stewart Victoria, Tadakmadla Santosh, Kisely Steve, Ware Robert S, Nguyen Tan M, Barry Ruby-Jane, Kularatna Sanjeewa, Yung Alison R, Cooper John, Gill Neeraj, Wheeler Amanda J
Centre for Mental Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2025 Oct;53(5):564-570. doi: 10.1111/cdoe.13052. Epub 2025 Jun 9.
Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are disproportionally affected by oral diseases, contributing to already poor physical health outcomes. Young adults are particularly vulnerable, with high psychological distress and greater health service engagement barriers. Early adulthood is a key opportunity to change the trajectory of poor oral health among youth with SMI (YSMI) by supporting oral hygiene self-care routines and timely access to oral healthcare.
To explore factors that promote or inhibit Healthy Smiles: engagement in oral healthcare among Australian YSMI.
Exploratory interviews and a focus group were conducted. Purposeful sampling recruited 11 YSMI, a carer, peer support workers (n = 2) and oral and mental health practitioners (n = 3) providing health for YSMI (total = 17).
Key strategies to improve oral health and access to services for YSMI were outlined: ensuring oral health practitioners had the mental health literacy, confidence and skills to work with this population and mental health practitioners had the oral health literacy and skills to support YSMI to practice oral hygiene self-care and access services; developing a range of youth-friendly promotional resources and communication channels to improve prevention awareness and reduce dental fear. A crucial element was the need for trusted relationships.
To prevent negative and life-impacting consequences of untimely oral healthcare access in early adulthood, systematic and targeted strategies for YSMI that focus on co-designed innovative models of care are urgently required.
患有严重精神疾病（SMI）的个体受口腔疾病的影响尤为严重，这导致他们本就不佳的身体健康状况雪上加霜。年轻人尤其脆弱，他们心理困扰严重，获得医疗服务的障碍也更大。成年早期是一个关键时机，通过支持口腔卫生自我护理习惯并及时获得口腔医疗服务，可以改变患有严重精神疾病的年轻人（YSMI）口腔健康不佳的发展轨迹。
探讨促进或抑制澳大利亚患有严重精神疾病的年轻人（YSMI）参与口腔医疗保健的“健康微笑”计划的因素。
进行了探索性访谈和焦点小组讨论。采用目的抽样法招募了11名患有严重精神疾病的年轻人、一名护理人员、两名同伴支持工作者以及为患有严重精神疾病的年轻人提供健康服务的三名口腔和心理健康从业者（共17人）。
概述了改善患有严重精神疾病的年轻人的口腔健康和获得服务的关键策略：确保口腔健康从业者具备与该人群合作的心理健康知识、信心和技能，以及心理健康从业者具备支持患有严重精神疾病的年轻人进行口腔卫生自我护理和获得服务的口腔健康知识和技能；开发一系列适合年轻人的宣传资源和沟通渠道，以提高预防意识并减少牙科恐惧。一个关键因素是需要建立可信赖的关系。
为防止成年早期因无法及时获得口腔医疗服务而产生负面的、影响生活的后果，迫切需要针对患有严重精神疾病的年轻人制定系统的、有针对性的策略，重点是共同设计创新的护理模式。
