The Progress of the New South Wales Aboriginal Oral Health Plan 2014–2020: A Scoping Review

Abstract

There are major disparities in oral health between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Oral Health Plan 2014–2020 was developed to improve the oral health of Aboriginal people. This scoping review describes programs that have been undertaken to implement the NSW Aboriginal Oral Health Plan 2014–2020. The methodology by Arksey and O’Malley was used to guide this review. Academic and grey literature were searched using a structured Medline, Lowitja and advanced Google searches. Articles were included if they aligned with the strategic directions of the Plan. Key information, including the aims of the study, methodology and results were recorded in a template on Microsoft Excel software. A total of 31 articles were included in this review. This included 25 articles from the academic literature and six initiatives from the grey literature. Included articles were categorised according to the six strategic directions in the NSW Aboriginal Oral Health Plan. Four studies were related to the first strategic direction, six related to strategic direction two, four related to strategic direction three, six initiatives related to strategic direction four, five related to strategic direction five, and eight related to strategic direction six. While there has been significant progress in achieving the strategic directions of the NSW Aboriginal Oral Health Plan, there is scope for continued collaboration between oral health service providers, universities and Aboriginal communities to improve oral health outcomes for Aboriginal people in NSW.