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Dental attendance patterns among older people: a retrospective review of records in public and private dental care in Sweden
Author(s) -
Derblom C,
HagmanGustafsson ML,
Gabre P
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of dental hygiene
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.674
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1601-5037
pISSN - 1601-5029
DOI - 10.1111/idh.12265
Subject(s) - medicine , attendance , dental care , retrospective cohort study , dentistry , private practice , tooth loss , family medicine , oral health , surgery , economics , economic growth
Abstract Objectives Nowadays, older people retain their natural teeth more frequently and so are at increased risk of oral disease. At the same time, discontinued contacts with dental services prevent access to preventive care and increase the risk of undetected disease. This study aims to evaluate how often older people discontinue regular dental visits and to establish the reasons. Methods This study is a retrospective review of records of patients aged ≥75 years from seven Swedish clinics, three in the public dental service (Pu DS ) and four in the private (Pr DS ). All patients were examined in 2010, and their dental attendance records from 2010 to 2014 studied. Data included gender, dental insurance system, last performed planned examination, emergency visits, registrations in the recall system, cause of discontinued care and number of teeth and implants. Results In total, 993 records were studied, 303 in Pu DS and 690 in Pr DS . In both groups, 10% of patients had no complete dental examinations between 2010 and 2014 after baseline examination in 2010. One‐quarter were not registered in the recall system after their last examinations, and this was more common in Pr DS than Pu DS . In many cases, no reason for discontinued regular visits were described in the records. The mean number of natural teeth was 19.0 in both groups, but there were more implants in the Pr DS group. Conclusions A large proportion of the participants risked losing regular contact with dental services. Dental services appeared to lack strategies for maintaining regular dental care for elderly patients.