University of Otago oral sciences lecturer Dr Zeina Al Naasan said she was inspired to research the issue because she herself was a former refugee.
"That was why this topic was close to my heart and that’s why I wanted to do that and benefit the former refugee community."
Her article "I lost my first tooth here": Syrian former refugees’ experiences of oral healthcare in Dunedin, New Zealand’ was published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
It examines the experiences of 39 former refugees living in Dunedin as they grappled with the oral health system.
"It was good to give former refugees a voice and to find out from them what barriers they’ve experienced in looking after the teeth ... we also have some ideas from them on how they could how we could break those barriers for them," Dr Al Naasan said.
A range of issues were covered, from financial barriers to barriers in language and cultural competence.
Many of those interviewed had received care from a dental practitioner who did not seem to understand how their war experiences had impacted their oral health, the study found.
However, their settlement experience also had an impact.
Dr Al Naasan had practised as a dentist in Syria, and said it was a very different system.
Trying to navigate the New Zealand system was also hard for many because it was in another language.
Including dental care information in the orientation course they took part in on arrival in the country would be a positive change, as would better access to interpreters — especially for urgent appointments.
"Prioritising settling well would put oral health at the at the bottom of the list of their priorities, and also having to navigate a new healthcare system — that’s one of the barriers that they struggled with, in addition to the communication barriers and accessing services barriers that they might have."
Oral health was an important topic because it had a big impact on quality of life — being pain-free, able to smile and able to socialise.
Because interviews with the participants were carried out in 2020, her focus on the issue had already had some impact.
The dental school had introduced a cultural safety module last year, which included findings from the study, she said.
The findings were also used to design an oral health promotion intervention, involving 60 people including the original interview subjects.
It was tailored to their culture and language, and included topics such as toothbrushing, nutrition and smoking.
"We had surveys and we did examination for participants, and the outcome was that they had significant reductions in their plaque levels and their plaque scores, their bleeding levels ... which means an improvement in their daily practice and oral health."
In the future she would like to see more focus on preventing conditions occurring.
She was grateful for the help of her supervisors — now her colleagues — as the study would not have been possible without them, she said.
