Call for papers - Exploring barriers to oral health care

Guest Editors

Julia Csikar, PhD, University of Leeds, UK
Heather Leggett, PhD, The University of York, UK

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 17 January 2025

BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on exploring barriers to oral health care. Despite advancements in oral care, various barriers persist, hindering individuals from accessing proper dental health services and interventions. These barriers can be multifaceted, ranging from economic constraints to geographical disparities and limited awareness. Addressing these challenges is imperative for public health, as untreated oral conditions can lead to systemic health issues and impact one's ability to work and participate fully in society.

New Content Item This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

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Meet the Guest Editors

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Julia Csikar, PhD, University of Leeds, UK

Dr Julia Csikar is an Associate Professor in Dental Public Health (DPH) within the School of Dentistry (University of Leeds). Julia has undertaken a variety of Public Health roles across the NHS and academia and has undertaken international research to understand the barriers to achieving good oral health using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She has a particular interest in the oral health of vulnerable populations such as people experiencing homelessness and older people living in residential care settings.

Heather Leggett, PhD, The University of York, UK

Dr Heather Leggett is an applied health services research fellow at the Clinical Trials Unit, The University of York. Dr Leggett also co-leads a Qualitative Research Network at the University of York. Dr Leggett is a qualitative researcher with experience in oral health, orthopedics, medical education and primary education. Heather has previously led qualitative research exploring barriers to prevention in oral healthcare across 6 European countries and been involved in the development of cross-country validated questionnaires on attitudes to prevention in oral healthcare. More recently she has worked on the delivery of a mouth care intervention to hospitalized elderly patients to prevent hospital acquired pneumonia.

About the Collection

BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on exploring barriers to oral health care.

Dental health is a critical component of overall well-being, with implications for both physical health and quality of life. Despite advancements in oral care, various barriers persist, hindering individuals from accessing proper dental health services and interventions. These barriers can be multifaceted, ranging from economic constraints to geographical disparities and limited awareness. Addressing these challenges is imperative for public health, as untreated oral conditions can lead to systemic health issues and impact one's ability to work and participate fully in society.

The upcoming collection welcomes original research articles to comprehensively explore various aspects of barriers to oral healthcare. Topics may include, but not limited to, the following:

Socioeconomic and/or geographic disparities in dental care access
Cultural influences on oral health behaviors
Impact of health literacy on dental health
Innovative interventions for overcoming access barriers
Telehealth and technology in dental care delivery
Public health policies and dental health equity
Pediatric dental health: early intervention strategies
Community-based approaches to improve oral health awareness

This collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Exploring barriers to oral health care" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.