Clarifying Multidisciplinary Pathways in Dysphagia

Dear Editor,The study by Birkent and Kurt provides valuable insight into dentists’ awareness of oral health in patients with dysphagia and highlights an important gap between awareness and clinical practice in Türkiye (1). The high recognition of poor oral health as a risk factor for aspiration pneumonia contrasts with the relatively limited clinical involvement and interdisciplinary collaboration reported by the participants.A clinically relevant extension of these findings may be to consider dysphagia type when developing educational and referral strategies. Dysphagia broadly encompasses oropharyngeal and esophageal disorders, which differ in their underlying mechanisms, complications, diagnostic pathways, and the disciplines most commonly involved in care (2). In oropharyngeal dysphagia, impaired airway protection and aspiration risk increase the importance of oral hygiene, swallowing rehabilitation, and collaboration among dentists, speech-language pathologists, and otorhinolaryngologists. In esophageal dysphagia, gastroenterological evaluation is often required to investigate structural, mucosal, or motility-related causes (2). Future educational programs for dentists could therefore extend beyond general dysphagia awareness to include recognition of the likely level of swallowing impairment, major warning features, and appropriate referral pathways. This would not require dentists to perform a comprehensive dysphagia assessment but could strengthen their role in early recognition and timely multidisciplinary referral. Consistent with the authors’ own discussion, simplified dysphagia assessment approaches developed for dental practice may provide a useful model for supporting this role (3).