Oral Health and Dental Service Utilization of Foreign Residents and Multicultural Families in Korea: a scoping review

Lee, Bora; Kim, Dae-Yeob; Huh, Jisun; Kim, Soo-Yoon; Choi, Seong-Ho; Jung, Hoi-in

doi:2021.59.3.132

J Korean Dent Assoc > Volume 59(3); 2021 > Article

REVIEW ARTICLE

The Journal of The Korean Dental Association 2021;59(3):132-142.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22974/jkda.2021.59.3.001 Published online February 28, 2021.

국내체류 외국인 및 다문화가족의 구강건강 및치과의료이용에 대한 주제범위 문헌고찰

이보라¹

^¹연세대학교 치과대학 치의학교육학교실
^²연세대학교 치과대학
^³연세대학교 치과대학 BK²¹ 플러스 통합구강생명과학 사업단
^⁴연세대학교 치과대학 치주과학교실
^⁵연세대학교 치과대학 예방치과학교실

Oral Health and Dental Service Utilization of Foreign Residents and Multicultural Families in Korea: a scoping review

Bora Lee¹

, Soo-Yoon Kim^1,3

¹Department of Dental Education, Yonsei University College of Dentistry
²Senior Dental Student, Yonsei University College of Dentistry
³BK21 PLUS Project, Yonsei University College of Dentistry
⁴Department of Periodontics, Yonsei University College of Dentistry
⁵Department of Preventive Dentistry & Public Oral Health, Yonsei University College of Dentistry

Correspondence: Hoi-in Jung, Tel: +82-2-2228-3070,
Email: junghoiin@yuhs.ac

Received: 29 September 2020 • Revised: 5 November 2020 • Accepted: 13 November 2020

Abstract

Background
Research on oral health and dental service utilization of foreign residents and multicultural families in Korea will play an important role as a fundamental data for establishing future oral health policies in the multicultural society. Objective: In this scoping review, previous studies on oral health and dental service utilization of foreign residents and multicultural families in Korea were reviewed, and the studies were classified according to research participants and research purposes. The variables related to oral health and dental service utilization and socio-demographic factors were also analyzed. Through this systematic review of literature, the limitations of existing research and future research directions were suggested.
Design
Korean databases such as Korean Medical Database (KMbase), DBpia, Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), Korean studies Information Service System (KISS), and National Assembly Library were investigated to collect data regarding oral health and dental service utilization. After retrieving the references, the title and the abstract of the literature were reviewed and their relevance was screened. Full text screening was conducted and a total number of 42 studies were selected, which met the inclusion criteria.
Results
After careful review and analysis of 42 studies, the following results were obtained: (a) the research participants were married migrant women, multicultural children and adolescents, foreign workers, and foreign students (four types), of whom the most frequent was marriage migrant women (45.5%) and (b) the research purposes were oral health behavior, oral health status, dental service utilization, oral health belief, oral health knowledge, and oral health education (six types), of which the most frequent was oral health behavior (39.7%).
Conclusion
This research takes a systematic approach to exploring research participants, purposes, variables related to oral health and dental service utilization, and demographic variables of foreigners and multicultural families residing in Korea. According to the findings, the most published research topic of research participants was 'marriage migrant women' and oral health behavior has the highest number of publications in research purposes.

Key Words: foreign residents; multicultural family; oral health; dental service utilization; Korea