Improving Oral Health For The Elderly 2008

This excellent new work confronts two important oral health policy concerns in the United States: the disparities in the oral disease burden and the inability of certain segments of the population to access oral health care. The book examines in depth this crucial yet frequently overlooked indicator of seniors’ quality of life. It provides an invaluable set of recommendations to the clinical, research, and administrative communities that will serve the elderly population.

This excellent new work confronts two important oral health policy concerns in the United States: the disparities in the oral disease burden and the inability of certain segments of the population to access oral health care. The book examines in depth this crucial yet frequently overlooked indicator of seniors’ quality of life. It provides an invaluable set of recommendations to the clinical, research, and administrative communities that will serve the elderly population.

This excellent new work confronts two important oral health policy concerns in the United States: the disparities in the oral disease burden and the inability of certain segments of the population to access oral health care. The book examines in depth this crucial yet frequently overlooked indicator of seniors’ quality of life. It provides an invaluable set of recommendations to the clinical, research, and administrative communities that will serve the elderly population.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the assessment and management of older people’s oral health care needs. Discussing recent initiatives to emphasize oral health promotion and prevention, the book describes improvements in pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches for special populations in geriatrics and illuminates the role of barriers to oral health care for older people. Divided into three sections, the book first explores aging and oral health, including age-related changes, epidemiology, nutrition, dysphagia, aspiration pneumonia, xerostomia and hyposalivation, management of periodontal disease and caries, systemic diseases that influence oral health, and considerations for chronic orofacial pain. The second section illuminates the ways in which frailty and other geriatric syndromes influence oral health care in older adults with a special focus on frailty, dementia, delirium and depression, and the delivery of oral health care to vulnerable geriatric populations in long-term care, home care, palliative care, and hospice. Lastly, the book addresses inequalities in the oral health of older minority populations, the disproportionate burden of oral disease and tooth loss, the contribution of these issues to further complications in comorbidities, the association of extended health literacy and periodontal disease, and the social and cultural conditions that might be altered or improved by healthcare programs and health policies. Oral Health and Aging is a useful book written by an international group of experts and designed to educate geriatricians, primary care physicians, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, speech and language pathologists, dietitians, and health policy advocates.

Access to oral health care is essential to promoting and maintaining overall health and well-being, yet only half of the population visits a dentist each year. Poor and minority children are less likely to have access to oral health care than are their nonpoor and nonminority peers. Older adults, people who live in rural areas, and disabled individuals, uniformly confront access barriers, regardless of their financial resources. The consequences of these disparities in access to oral health care can lead to a number of conditions including malnutrition, childhood speech problems, infections, diabetes, heart disease, and premature births. Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations examines the scope and consequences of inadequate access to oral health services in the United States and recommends ways to combat the economic, structural, geographic, and cultural factors that prevent access to regular, quality care. The report suggests changing funding and reimbursement for dental care; expanding the oral health work force by training doctors, nurses, and other nondental professionals to recognize risk for oral diseases; and revamping regulatory, educational, and administrative practices. It also recommends changes to incorporate oral health care into overall health care. These recommendations support the creation of a diverse workforce that is competent, compensated, and authorized to serve vulnerable and underserved populations across the life cycle. The recommendations provided in Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations will help direct the efforts of federal, state, and local government agencies; policy makers; health professionals in all fields; private and public health organizations; licensing and accreditation bodies; educational institutions; health care researchers; and philanthropic and advocacy organizations.

Oral health is an important component of the physical and mental health. Oral health care, long neglected in elderly, is viewed not only as desirable but as vital. Oral conditions in older adults have a wide range of effects on functional status, well-being and ultimately quality of life. The elderly constitute a small but rapidly growing segment of the population. This population is undergoing a rapid transformation, becoming more affluent and better educated on average than in the past. Aging of the population presents a special challenge to dentists. Public health measures should be given priority and implemented. Promotional and preventive educational strategies involving media, self-care, self-monitoring as well as direct delivery by the dental professional, can improve oral health status of elders. These strategies minimize root caries; reduce gingivitis, bone loss, control denture stomatitis and aid in the early detection of oral diseases. It is important for the dentist to be aware of practical problem-oriented approaches that helps in patient management, maintaining & improving dental health as part of total healthcare services available to the elderly.

Case reports and clinical trials conducted in various countries show, more and more frequently, a positive correlation between the presence of original teeth and prevalence of root caries in older age. Because this is a global trend, it is likely that the predicted increase in the worldwide elderly population may soon cause a significant increase in the number of people requiring effective means of preventing and treating root surface caries. In response to this development, a team of outstanding contributors has reviewed the most important aspects of root caries. This new volume presents their findings along with discussions of how to deal with this health issue that progressively affects the oral health balance. The chapters in this book are divided in four core parts: Epidemiology, Biological Determinants, Lesion Assessment and Features and Preventive and Operative Therapies. The collection of state-of-the-art articles provides a broad overview and will serve as a reference for clinicians as well as scientists and, hopefully, will encourage new research.

ABSTRACT: Helping patients achieve an optimal quality of life through patient-centered treatment planning should be the ultimate goal of all oral health care providers. However, this issue extends beyond the realm of the individual clinician's office. This text presents quality-of-life research from various fields, including psychology, public health, and general health care; discusses how a patient-centered approach can be applied to basic oral and craniofacial research, clinical dental practice, community dental health issues, and dental education; and addresses how oral health-related quality of life relates to treating and understanding different patient populations, such as children with special needs, medically compromised patients, patients with oral cancer, and patients with chronic facial pain. Also discussed is how factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, and age can affect oral health-related quality-of-life concerns and treatment strategies. Finally, the book offers an outlook on the role that oral health-related quality of life will play in future research and dental education.