Seniors Oral Health: Are Treatment Recommendations Followed-up?

INTRODUCTION: Major barriers to receiving proper oral health care include the cost of treatment and distance to providers. These barriers have a greater impact on more vulnerable populations, such as the elderly. In 2005, seniors over the age of 65, from rural and urban areas, living independently and in various levels are of care, were recruited from 9 sites in Nova Scotia, surveyed on their oral health and given an intra-oral examination. Treatment recommendations were made based on findings and were provided to participants and their dentists or doctors.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research project was to determine whether or not treatment recommendations given in 2005 had been followed up.

METHODS: a short oral health questionnaire, based on the original survey, was developed and tested. Senior participants (SPs) were interviewed by phone or in person if a private phone was not available. Interviews that could not be done by phone were conducted by proxies (family members or nurses).

RESULTS: Of the original 146 SPs, 18 had passed away, 25 were unable to be contacted and 11 refused the interview. The interview was terminated for a further 2 individuals who demonstrated cognitive difficulty. A total of 90 interviews were completed giving a response rate of 61.64%. 58 or 64.44% of the SPs interviewed had received dental treatment within the past two years.

CONCLUSIONS: In general, treatment recommendations were followed-up at higher rates by residents living independently in more urban areas (n=3 sites; 80.00%, 80.00%, 83.33%), or in a rural area that had a local full-time dentist (n=1 site; 69.23%). Follow-up was very poor for those living in rural areas with fewer amenities (n=2 sites; 41.67 and 42.86%) and rural long-term care (LTC) residents who did not have easy access to local dentists (n=2 sites; 0.00% and 16.67%).