Abstract

ANTUNES FREITAS, Daniel et al. Dentists' opinion on the need to link speech therapy with dental practice. Rev Clin Med Fam [online]. 2011, vol.4, n.1, pp.11-18. ISSN 2386-8201.

Objective: To determine the opinion of dentists and dental specialists on the need to link speech therapy with the practice of dentistry. Design: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional. Setting: FUNORTE School of Dentistry, Montes Claros, Brazil. Participants: General dentists, orthodontists, paediatric dentists and facial orthopaedics specialists. Mean Measurements: Age, gender, educational level, work experience, referral experience of participants, reasons for referral, the position taken by patients being referred. Results: n=73 (response rate 100%), 100% of respondents considered it important to link speech therapy with dental practice. Seventy four percent of participants had experience with referrals and 51.9% of these reported that their patients sometimes needed assistance from speech therapists. In 31.5% of cases this was due to oral or oronasal breathing. 55.6% of the participants reported that patients are referred to a speech therapist at the end of their treatment. However, 53.7% reported that patients rarely attend the specialist visit and according to 72.2% of participants this is probably because of the patient's financial situation. Only 11% of the participants had worked in an inter-disciplinary setting with a speech therapist. Similarly they considered that patient acceptance of treatment is increased when working with a speech therapist. Conclusion: It was concluded that the respondents considered that linking speech therapy with their profession was important.

Keywords : Speech; Language and Hearing Sciences; Dentistry; Interdisciplinary Health Team.

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