• Stacey A Bracksley-O'Grady, Virginia A Dickson-Swift, Karen S Anderson, and Mark G Gussy.
• Ms. Bracksley-O'Grady is Teaching Fellow, Department of Public and Community Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia; Dr. Dickson-Swift is Senior Lecturer, Department of Public and Community Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia; Dr. Anderson is Lecturer, Department of Public and Community Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia; and Dr. Gussy is Head, Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. S.Bracksley@latrobe.edu.au.
• J Dent Educ. 2015 May 1; 79 (5): 584-91.

AbstractDental diseases are a major burden on health; however, they are largely preventable. Dental treatment alone will not eradicate dental disease with a shift to prevention required. Prevention of dental diseases is a role of dental professionals, with most countries having formalized health promotion competencies for dental and oral health graduates. In spite of this, there may be minimal health promotion being undertaken in clinical practice. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a scoping review to identify some published studies on health promotion training in dental and oral health degrees. Key search terms were developed and used to search selected databases, which identified 84 articles. Four articles met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and were included in the review. Of these studies, the type of oral health promotion tasks and instructions received before the tasks varied. However, for all studies the health promotion content was focused on health education. In terms of evaluation of outcomes, only two studies evaluated the health promotion content using student reflections. More good-quality information on health promotions training is needed to inform practice.

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