著者
Hiroki Iwata Keisuke Nakamura Noriko Kobayashi Kazuko Fujimoto Naoko Hayashi Katsunori Yamaura
出版者
International Research and Cooperation Association for Bio & Socio-Sciences Advancement
雑誌
Drug Discoveries & Therapeutics (ISSN:18817831)
巻号頁・発行日
pp.2022.01091, (Released:2022-12-19)
参考文献数
11

Community pharmacies are required to play a role in maintaining the health of local residents. Since September 2015, a national policy in Japan has allowed saliva tests to be used for oral health check-ups at community pharmacies. In the present study, we aimed to reveal dentists' perceptions and expectations for oral health check-ups provided at community pharmacies. A questionnaire survey was administered to dentists at 1,000 randomly selected dental clinics in Tokyo, Japan; 257 responses (25.7%) were included in the analysis and 85.2% of respondents approved of oral health check-ups at community pharmacies. Most respondents who approved of oral health check-ups expected that community pharmacists would recommend that local residents visit a dental clinic (85.8%) and provide a report to dentists (60.3%) after the check-up. Furthermore, 79.0% of respondents desired collaboration with community pharmacies. These findings suggested the potential for oral health check-ups to facilitate collaboration between community pharmacies and dental clinics aimed at maintaining and improving oral health of local residents.
著者
Hiroki Iwata Koichi Shibano Mitsuhiro Okazaki Kotaro Fujimaki Noriko Kobayashi Kazuko Fujimoto Naoko Hayashi Tomoyuki Goto Katsunori Yamaura
出版者
International Research and Cooperation Association for Bio & Socio-Sciences Advancement
雑誌
Drug Discoveries & Therapeutics (ISSN:18817831)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.14, no.6, pp.319-324, 2020-12-31 (Released:2021-01-23)
参考文献数
18
被引用文献数
1

Maintaining good oral health is important because oral diseases are related to systemic diseases, and community pharmacies play a key role in maintaining the health of local residents. This study aimed to examine the effects of oral health check-ups and information provision at community pharmacies on oral health-associated behaviors as well as patient satisfaction. We conducted oral health check-ups and provided information about oral health self-care to 84 patients at a community pharmacy, and then asked them to complete a questionnaire survey. One month later, we sent them a follow-up questionnaire and received responses from 66.7% (56/84) of the participants. The large majority were satisfied with the salivary test (95.2%) and the information (96.4%) we provided. Most of the participants (89.3%) indicated that they wanted to use the oral health check-up service again in the future. Compared with baseline, the ratio of participants restricting their intake of sugar-rich foods and drinks significantly increased 1 month later (p = 0.021). About 60% of those who had not undergone a regular dental examination at baseline reported newly visiting or planning to visit a dental clinic. The results revealed high satisfaction with the oral health check-up and information about oral self-care they received at the community pharmacy. The results suggested that oral health check-ups had the potential to change both oral self-care habits and dental consultation behavior. Our findings indicate that community pharmacies can contribute to the maintenance and promotion of oral health by providing oral health check-ups to local residents.