Coproducing trauma informed pathways to oral health care with survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking

The oral health needs and outcomes of people who have experienced human trafficking and/or modern slavery intersect across layers of structural, clinical, and psychosocial complexity. Research on the health needs of survivors of modern slaver/human trafficking consistently highlight the long-term impacts on health outcomes and health-seeking behaviour. Survivors often present with multiple unaddressed health concerns, including psychological and physiological sequelae of violence, trauma, and abuse. Oral health has been under-recognised in both trafficking research and clinical guidance for post-trafficking services.
Trafficking survivors have high unmet dental needs. Guides for volunteers working with victims of modern slavery, explicitly note that this group may live with significant dental disease — including pain, missing or broken teeth — and have high barriers to accessing traditional dental services. These needs reflect broader patterns identified in general oral health inequality research: socially vulnerable groups in the UK experience substantially worse outcomes and low engagement with dental care, yet direct evidence for trafficked individuals remains sparse.
Research conducted by the PI with survivors of childhood sexual abuse (a complex trauma with some phenomenological parallels to trafficking survivors’ experiences), emphasises how dental treatment encounters themselves can trigger traumatic responses. Participants described dental settings as panic-inducing due to the intimacy of care, power imbalances, and reminders of past harm. Tailored supports such as facilitating opportunities for disclosure, patient choice, autonomy, and trust building are important to mitigate re-traumatisation and enable engagement. Extending this to trafficked populations, a trauma-informed lens in dental care must do more than adapt clinical techniques; it must create safe spaces and skills in practitioners to facilitate meaningful conversations and processes that actively build safety and trust.
Our study aims to coproduce the development of trauma-informed care by prioritising lived experience through building safety, support, and relational trust to create a safe space for survivors to share their stories in their words. We will use storytelling to gather initial information of lived experiences that capture current needs and provision for oral healthcare alongside the wider intersectional psychosocial needs.
Our multidisciplinary team includes academic psychologist, dentists, public health experts, charity managers, creative partners, and LECs. As well as being a Chartered Psychologist the PI is an Accredited Psychotherapist and Inclusion Consultant and Trainer. She works with charities to deliver therapy to survivors of modern slavery and trafficking; and provides clinical supervision to staff working with survivors of modern slavery and trafficking. She also delivers training on Trauma Informed Care to health professionals and partnerships.

People who have experienced human trafficking and/or are the victims of modern slavery often have experience very complex trauma that affect their whole lives, including their oral health. Their experiences of dental care can be retraumatising and triggering. This study will work with survivors of human trafficking and victims of modern slavery to understand how we can improve access and service delivery. Our team includes a psychologist who teaches dental students about working with different populations, public health professionals who make recommendations for service delivery, and a charity supporting people who have been trafficked and experienced modern slavery.