Barriers to the provision of complex dental treatment for dentate older people: a comparison of dentists' and patients' views.
The majority of older people live active lives and more are retaining their teeth. These people rely for their dental care on general dental practitioners. However, many find that the service they are offered falls short of their desires, and this study examined this problem from the points of view of the public and the dentists. Qualitative group discussions were conducted among 61 middle-aged and elderly people and 20 dentists, followed by a quantitative study involving 20 dentists and 57 of their patients. The aim was to discover what, if any, differences there may have been between their expectations of dental treatment. There were no significant differences between middle-aged and older peoples' views on barriers to the receipt of dental care. However, dentists assumed that their older patients would have significantly greater negative dental attitudes than their middle-aged patients. Dentists considered that ability to pay would be a significantly greater barrier for their working-class rather than their middle-class patients. However, among the patients themselves there was no significant difference. The comparison of dentists' and patients' views on barriers to treatment showed that dentists significantly overestimated their older patients' reluctance to receive dental treatment.
Wilson
M C
MC
Dental Health Unit, University of Manchester.
Holloway
P J
PJ
Sarll
D W
DW
D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016854:Dental Anxiety; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom