Geriatric oral health issues in Australia

Aim: To identify and discuss geriatric oral health issues in Australia. Methods: A discussion of the demographic trends, oral health trends, and barriers to dental care for older Australians is presented, together with a review of Australian public and private sector geriatric dental services, geria...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International dental journal 2001-06, Vol.51 (S3), p.188-199
Main Author: Chalmers, J. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Australia
Australia - epidemiology
Dental Care for Aged
Dental Caries - epidemiology
Dental Health Services
Dental Research
Dentistry
edentulism
Education, Dental
Frail Elderly
Geriatric Dentistry - education
Geriatric oral health
Health Services Accessibility
Health Status
Homebound Persons
Humans
Institutionalization
Middle Aged
Mouth, Edentulous - epidemiology
Oral Health
Population Dynamics
Private Practice
Public Health Dentistry
Root Caries - epidemiology
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Summary:Aim: To identify and discuss geriatric oral health issues in Australia. Methods: A discussion of the demographic trends, oral health trends, and barriers to dental care for older Australians is presented, together with a review of Australian public and private sector geriatric dental services, geriatric dental research, and geriatric dental education. Conclusions: Key geriatric oral health issues for Australia include: edentulism is decreasing and older Australians are retaining more natural teeth; coronal and root caries are significant problems, especially as older adults become more functionally dependent, cognitively impaired, and medically compromised; the oral health status of institutionalised older Australians is poor; the onset of severe oral diseases appears to occur in many older Australians prior to their institutionalisation, when they are homebound and dependent upon carers; carers of older adults do not have access to practical education about dental care; the majority of older Australians are eligible to use public‐funded dental services, but barriers limit their access to these services; few Australian public or private dental services are designed with a geriatric focus; geriatric dental education does not have a high profile in Australian dental schools; no specialty exists in Australia for geriatric dentistry, nor is there a national geriatric dentistry association.
ISSN:0020-6539
1875-595X
DOI:10.1002/j.1875-595X.2001.tb00866.x