Oral health screening of elderly people attending a community care centre

A socio-dental survey was carried out to determine the level of dental disease and treatment requirement among elderly people attending a Community Care Centre. A screening programme involving 293 elderly people demonstrated a normative need of 82% and a felt need of 53%. Seventy-six per cent would have benefited from dental care. Many individuals who both needed and wanted dental care were not receiving it because they were discouraged from doing so predominantly because of poor mobility. It is recommended, therefore, that dentists be included in multi-disciplinary teams caring for elderly people so that they can be screened and given the opportunity to obtain dental care.