Teamwork and Oral Health in Diabetes Care

Background: The integration of oral health into primary care is often limited, despite its significant connection with many diseases, including diabetes mellitus (DM). Objective: This project aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate an oral health education program for medical assistants (MAs) to increase oral health knowledge and enhance practice using standardized oral health screening questions for patients with DM. Methods: A nurse practitioner-led oral health program was implemented. Medical assistants completed a pre-test and post-test to assess oral health knowledge, a pre-survey and post-survey to assess likelihood of performing screening questions, and a post-implementation survey to assess barriers. Results: Analyses of pre-test and post-test results using the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test (two-tailed) showed a significant increase in correct answers on the post-test (W = 0, N = 8, p <= 0.05), with the mean score increasing from 81% to 95%. In addition, the MAs' likelihood of asking screening questions increased and 62.5% reported no barriers to implementation after 1 week. Conclusions: All participants demonstrated an increase in knowledge and likelihood of using screening questions. Implications for Nursing: An oral health program using a team approach to equip MAs with training offers a practical method to incorporate evidence-based recommendations into primary care.