An Assessment of Oral Health Training Among Geriatric Fellowship Programs: A National Survey

Oral health (OH) has profound effects on the overall health of elderly people. While oral disease is prevalent in the geriatric population and access to care is a major issue, it is unclear the extent of OH training among US geriatric fellowship programs. A 19-item electronic survey was sent to all 148 accredited geriatric fellowship training programs via the Association of Directors of Geriatric Medicine. Directors were asked about hours of trainings, barriers, and evaluation of trainees among other topics. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed. Seventy-five directors completed the survey (51% response rate). Sixty-three percent (46/73) report their fellows receive 1 to 2 hours of OH instruction (ie, lectures, workshops) during their training. Almost a quarter (23%; 17/73) reported 0 hours of OH content. Only 17% (13/75) have clinical experiences in a dental setting. Barriers to more OH education include competing priorities or lack of time (57%; 43/75), lack of faculty expertise (55%; 41/75), and no clear geriatric national educational competencies (44%; 33/75). Programs with an OH champion or dental school/residency affiliation had more hours of OH instruction. Geriatric fellowships appear to need more OH training, which could be achieved by creating OH champions and connecting fellowships with dental schools/residencies. Barriers could be overcome by exposing fellowships to existing resources and creating national competencies. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:1079-1084, 2019.