Role of Community Health Nurses in Oral Health Promotion: Impact on Dental Caries Prevention and Restorative Treatment Outcomes in Community Settings

community health nursing, oral health promotion, / dental caries prevention, restorative dental care, primary healthcare

Dr. Chinmay Dattaraya Bhat1,
Post graduate, Department of conservative
dentistry and endodontics, Nitte (deemed to
be a university), AB Shetty Memorial
Institute of dental science, Deralakatte,
Mangalore, 575018,
Email-ID:[email protected]
Orcid ID:0009-0000-8032-597X

Dr Pragati Gurjar2,
Health Department
Public Health, Maternal and Child Health
IIHMR University, Jaipur
Email ID: [email protected]

Prof Papri Das3,
Principal, Institute of Nursing Brainware
University, Barasat Kolkata Specialization
Community Health Nursing,
[email protected]
Orcid id - 0009-0009-7244-2995

Dr. Farheen Khan4,
Assistant Professor, Conservative Dentistry
and Endodontics, Conservative Dentistry and
Endodontics, Sharda University/ Sharda
School of Dental Sciences, Sharda University,
Email Id: [email protected]

Dr. Sourav Sen5,
Professor, Department of Public Health
Dentistry, MM College of Dental Science and
Research, Maharishi Markandeshwar
(Deemed to be University), Mullana,
Ambala– 133207, Haryana, India.
Email Id: [email protected],
Orcid Id: 0000-0003-4343-5322

Dr. Kabir Suman Dash,6
Senior Lecturer, Department Of Public
Health Dentistry, Kalinga Institute of Dental
Sciences (KIDS), Kalinga Institute of Industrial
Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University,
Bhubaneswar-751024, Odisha, India,
Email Id: [email protected]
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4108-8825

Received-06-06-2026
Revised-10-07-2026
Accepted-15-07-20.26

European Journal of Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry (2026) 34(5s), 12–21

Role of Community Health Nurses in Oral Health Promotion: Impact on Dental Caries Prevention and Restorative Treatment Outcomes in Community Settings

Dental problems continue to be common despite being highly preventable, as disadvantaged groups face the greatest obstacles in accessing timely prevention and treatment services. This review examines the contribution of community health nurses to oral health promotion, dental caries prevention, and restorative treatment outcomes across community settings. A narrative synthesis of relevant nursing, dental, public health, and interdisciplinary literature was undertaken, with attention to nurse-led education, risk assessment, preventive counselling, referral, care coordination, follow-up, and service delivery for vulnerable groups. The evidence indicates that community health nurses can extend oral healthcare beyond dental clinics by reinforcing oral hygiene and dietary behaviours, supporting fluoride and school-based programs, identifying individuals at elevated caries risk, and facilitating earlier referral. Their involvement also supports restorative care through improved communication, treatment adherence, post-treatment monitoring, and patient-centred follow-up. However, implementation is constrained by limited oral health training, workforce pressure, fragmented referral systems, geographic inequities, and uneven organizational readiness. Stronger competency frameworks, interprofessional collaboration, culturally responsive practice, and appropriate use of teledentistry and decision-support technologies are required to strengthen impact. Community health nurses represent an underused component of the oral health workforce and could contribute substantially to prevention, continuity of care, and reduction of persistent oral health inequalities. Further longitudinal, implementation, and cost-effectiveness research is needed to guide scalable models of practice.

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