Barriers of delivering oral health care to older people experienced by dentists: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The most common barriers of delivering oral health care to older people were identified respectively as: the lack of adequate equipment in a care home and no area for treatment available (n = 4) and the lack of adequate reimbursement for working in a care home (n = 5). In addition, the inadequate training and experience in delivering oral health care to older care home residents (n = 2) were mentioned. Four publications indicated the loss of time from private practice as a barrier to deliver oral health care in a care home. We suggest that additional research should be initiated to investigate more in detail the barriers dentists experience in delivering oral health care to older people in their own dental practices.

Opinions of dentists on the barriers in providing oral health care to community‐dwelling frail older people: a questionnaire survey

“…and Holm‐Pedersen et al . and the already‐mentioned systematic literature review by Bots‐VantSpijker et al …”

“…Other than providing some profession‐specific and personal characteristics, the dentists were required to respond to 15 opinions concerning oral healthcare provision to community‐dwelling frail older people aged 75 years and older and who experienced problems in physical, psychological and social areas, as well as possible financial problems. Eight of the 15 opinions were referring to barriers mentioned in the systematic literature review of Bots‐VantSpijker et al …”

Oral health and dental care of older persons—A systematic map of systematic reviews

“…The number of reviews with low/moderate and high risk of bias according to the 12 domains is presented in Table . The main characteristics of reviews with low/moderate risk of bias are described in Table and the 18 reviews with high risk of bias are reported in Table . Table presents the 163 excluded reviews and the main reason for exclusion.…”

Does residential aged care need dental professionals? A qualitative study on dental professionals' perceptions in Australia

“…The challenges in addressing this problem are supported by other findings where a lack of suitable equipment, less than ideal work environments and inadequate reimbursement for services rendered are barriers to providing oral health care 4 . The complex oral health needs of residents, including concomitant physical and mental comorbidities, are often compounded by few dentists routinely providing oral health services to residential aged care facilities 2,3,13 .…”