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Purpose: Healthcare professionals (HCPs) play a key role in improving the health literacy of patients. Since oral health is an essential part of overall health, the objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes about oral health among registered nurses. Materials and Methods: A four-component questionnaire was used to assess the oral health training, oral health knowledge and attitudes of registered nurses. Participants were recruited from the city of Montpellier, France, and the surrounding area between May and June 2022 via e-mail and social media. Results: In total, 416 responses were included in our study. Only 35.8% of nurses reported that they had received specific training on oral health and 24.3% had never advised patients to consult a dentist. Participants demonstrated good overall knowledge, but stated there were weaknesses in a variety of areas, such as oral health in children. The nurses proposed methods to improve understanding of the importance of oral health, namely by setting up training courses and better interdisciplinary collaboration. Conclusion: Our study showed that some aspects of oral health are not well understood by nurses. Initial training should be improved and supplemental training should be offered to improve the knowledge, attitude and practices of nurses in order to improve patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION Oral health is essential for psychosocial well-being and general health. For expectant mothers, pregnancy increases the risk of oral diseases and has a subsequent impact on the oral health of a child once born. Midwives are in charge of pregnancy monitoring, childbirth and newborns' first days of life. They could have an important role in prevention. However, limited studies evaluating the knowledge, attitudes and practices on oral health among midwives have been conducted in Europe. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire. Two local midwifery associations sent out the questionnaire by email and social media networks to all registered midwives and practicing in the department of Herault (n=613), between April and May 2022. Statistical analyses on quantitative data and descriptive analyses of qualitative free-text responses were performed. RESULTS In total, 167 midwives were included. We found a lack of knowledge on many oral health topics and this was stated as the main reason that only 29% of midwives provided oral health information to their patients. Only 30% of the midwives had a training module on oral health during their initial training, and less than half of them considered the training adequate. To improve their lack of knowledge, participants expressed a preference for digital communication methods for themselves; however, they favored in-person interaction for public interventions. CONCLUSIONS This study showed a lack of training and knowledge about oral health among midwives and a lack of oral health discussion with expectant mothers who are a high-risk population for oral diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2010, the decree n°2010–1229 relating to telemedicine, published in the “Journal officiel de la république française” (JORF) n°0245 of October 21, 2010, specified the terms of the application of telemedicine in France. The practice of remote oral medicine is now becoming more widespread in the country. Since 2010, the dental public health team of the University Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier and the University of Montpellier has been working on the subject, with nearly ten thousand telemedicine acts performed as part of the work of the “First consultation and telemedicine” Medical Activity Unit of the Center for Dental Care, Teaching and Research (CSERD) of the CHU of Montpellier. Various studies have been conducted with multiple target populations to evaluate the value of teledentistry in different settings. The practice of teledentistry should help fight against inequalities of access to care and prevention in France. It has shown to be beneficial for patients, health professionals, dentists and health institutions, but improvements are needed to structure and perpetuate this practice. The profession must make major decisions and relaunch discussions so that France remains one of the leaders in this field.