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Dental treatment needs and demands of an elderly population in England
Author(s) -
Smith Joyce M.,
Sheiham Aubrey
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1980.tb01308.x
Subject(s) - medicine , feeling , denial , normative , dental care , population , dentistry , family medicine , gerontology , environmental health , psychotherapist , psychology , social psychology , philosophy , epistemology
A sociodental investigation was conducted among 254 elderly people living at home in Nottingham. A clinical assessment was made of the subjects' dental treatment needs and this was compared with the subjects' felt and expressed needs. Seventy‐eight percent of the sample were clinically judged as needing denial treatment, mainly some form of prosthetic treatment. There was, however, a wide discrepancy between the normative and perceived needs of this elderly population. Only 42% of those who were clinically assessed as needing treatment felt that they required it and only 19% had actually tried to obtain it. Many of the elderly mentioned a number of barriers to obtaining dental care; these included the cost of treatment, fear of the dentist, immobility and the feeling that they should not “bother” the dentist.