Oral Health Care Programs in Older Adults
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Health needs assessments of older adults attending primary care dental practices utilising anonymised dental records
IRAS ID
190688
Contact name
Iain Pretty
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
Dental caries (decay) is a multi-factorial life long disease. Research regarding caries has mainly been conducted in children and adolescents due to the readily accessible nature of the population in school based studies. However, this risk of caries is thought to the same or higher in older adults, complicated by increased tooth retention and treatment provision. Current management of dental caries in older adults remains broad and unspecific. The risk factors for caries are different in older adults than for children (e.g. medication and decreased physical and cognitive function) - so these need to be fully understood. The aim of this study is to explore the risk factors for dental caries in older adults, over 65 years old. This will then inform development of a caries risk assessment/statistical model to help dental practitioners identify patients at 'high risk' of caries and give appropriate re-call intervals for preventative treatment.
Initially, we need to establish the prevalence of caries in the older population. Finally, in order to see why some older adults have more decay than others at the same age, we would collect baseline health and dental characteristics. This can all be carried out by looking at patients electronic records at their general dental practices.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0424
Date of REC Opinion
18 May 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion