Medical-dental and hospital-clinic collaboration in Iwate Prefecture in Japan

Purpose: Japanese government has been promoted community-based integrated care systems which provide seamless community healthcare resources for elderly people. In this system, medical-dental collaboration and hospital-clinic collaboration play important roles. In this study, to understand the actual the situation, survey was conducted for the member of the Iwate Dental Association and analyzed the difficulty of the collaboration and the regional differences. Materials and Methods: The questionnaires were distributed to 609 all members of Iwate Dental Association. Implementation of dental treatment for mentally handicapped patients, the experiences of dental treatment for patients with diseases, the experiences of participated in nutrition support team and dental rounds at the hospital, dental treatment after nutrition support team rounds, dental and oral care at the hospital or medical clinic, participated in a collaborative conference at the hospital were surveyed. Data were analyzed by item response theory and correspondence analysis. Results: The 354 members retuned the questionnaire (collection rate was 58.1%). The 216/343 (61%) of dental clinic had experienced the dental treatment of the patients with mental handicap. Participation of nutrition support team and dental treatment after nutrition support ream round had high discrimination ability for the medical and dental collaboration. By the correspondence analysis, regional differences can be observed. Conclusion: There were the regional differences in the supply of the medical-dental and hospital-clinic collaboration service in Iwate Prefecture. Providing information for the members of team approach may be one of the resolutions for the regional difference. (Asian Pac J Dent 2019; 19: 77-84.)