Rural pharmacists filling gaps in dentist barren towns

A NEW study has found that pharmacists are stepping in as frontline providers of oral healthcare advice in rural Victorian towns without dental practitioners, offering oral hygiene advice, managing dental pain inquiries and promoting preventative care.

The study, Evaluating and Expanding Rural Victorian Community Pharmacists Role in Providing Oral Healthcare published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health, is the result of an Honours research project by Erica Stelfox.

Professor Joseph Tucci, pharmacy discipline lead at La Trobe’s Rural Health School, said while pharmacists were eager to offer oral health advice, time constraints and operating as a single pharmacist limited their ability to do so.

“In regions where dentists are absent, pharmacists are often the first and only line of healthcare,” he said.

“With structured support, they can play a more confident and collaborative role in preventing and addressing oral health issues.”

Professor Santosh Tadakamadla, dentistry and oral health discipline lead at La Trobe, said there was room for growth within the delivery of a community pharmacist’s oral health advice, as the study results indicated that advice provision was largely perceived as reactive.

“If pharmacists were more proactive in these discussions, some oral health conditions could be largely preventable,” he said.

“With many rural areas not having access to fluoridated water, it is important that pharmacists are educated on the benefits of fluoridated products and how to successfully incorporate this as part of their oral health advice delivery.”

Find the study on the Wiley Online Library website.