Dental advice for children and young people with congenital heart disease: a survey of cardiac nurses

Background/Aims
Optimum oral healthcare and dental education is vital for children and young people with congenital heart disease to reduce the risk of infective endocarditis. The aims of this study were to ascertain the information provided by cardiac nurses regarding preventative dental care for children and young people with congenital heart disease and their families.

Methods
Data about preventative dental advice were collected via a cross-sectional online survey of children and young people's cardiac nurses, conducted from November 2021–March 2022 and October–November 2022. A snowball sampling method was used to recruit respondents for the study, resulting in responses from 27 cardiac nurses across seven cardiac networks in England.

Results
Of the 27 participants, 24 (88.9%) gave dental advice to patients and their families, 21 (77.8%) and were moderately or highly confident about providing advice, but just over half (n=14, 51.9%) were unaware of national congenital heart disease dental standards. Three themes emerged from analysis of the survey: educational needs, resource availability and empowerment.

Conclusions
Despite the relatively low response rate, inconsistencies in the implementation of cardiac standards among different networks were evident. Recommendations include improving access to dental services, improving collaboration between dental and cardiac teams, providing dental education for children and young people's cardiac nurses and giving correct advice to parents to promote optimum dental health for this high-risk group.