Introduction: Adults with neurological conditions struggle to access oral healthcare, leaving their needs unmet. Assessing this population's access to oral health services is necessary to identify and address the barriers they face, improve access to care, and ultimately enhance their oral health outcomes and quality of life.
Objective: To explore various barriers that adults with neurological conditions encounter when seeking oral healthcare services.
Methods: Using the Arksey and O’Malley framework (2005), we searched CINAHL, Medline, and Embase for studies and grey literature related to adults with stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or epilepsy.
Results: We screened 8,236 records and selected 21 articles that met the study’s inclusion criteria. Our review revealed that adults with neurological conditions encounter multiple barriers to accessing oral healthcare. These barriers include the physical inaccessibility of both indoor and outdoor environments, lack of transportation, symptoms that interfere with dental visits, the high cost of care, negative attitudes of dental professionals toward disabilities, inadequate training and clinical guidelines of oral healthcare providers, and limited oral health literacy among individuals with neurological conditions.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the significant role that occupational therapists can have in addressing the numerous barriers to oral health faced by adults with neurological conditions. Adapting dental facilities, enhancing dental professional training, and prioritizing client-centered care are some of the areas of support for this population. Addressing dental care service barriers can significantly improve this underserved population's access to essential oral healthcare services and quality of life.