Cultural challenges to oral healthcare implementation in elders

For successful implementation of oral healthcare services for elders, there is a need to understand and respond to their oral health beliefs, perceived needs and preferred type of care services, all of which are shaped by their cultural beliefs and values. This poses challenges to oral healthcare providers, especially when serving a diverse elderly population with people coming from different cultural backgrounds. The general principles of oral healthcare provision and their adaptation to serve culturally diverse elderly populations are discussed. The oral health beliefs and behaviours of Chinese, an ethnic group that can be found in many countries across the world, are highlighted and used as examples. Chinese elders generally attach a higher value to the physical functions than to the appearance of their dentition and prefer to use traditional self-care methods to deal with their oral health problems rather than to seek professional services. There is need to incorporate into the training of oral healthcare providers the competence to adapt their services to the beliefs and practices of culturally diverse elderly population groups in different settings.